Nick Kyrgios says he really wanted to play Rafael Nadal for a third time at Wimbledon before the Spaniard's scratching from the semis with an abdominal tear.
Nick Kyrgios hopes to rekindle his rivalry with Rafael Nadal on another big stage after expressing disappointment at the great Spaniard's scratching from the pair's much-anticipated Wimbledon semi-final.
Kyrgios received a walkover through to the first grand slam final of his rollercoaster career when Nadal pulled out with an abdominal strain on Thursday night.
"It's not the way I wanted to get to the final. As a competitor, I really did want that match," Kyrgios said on Friday.
"It was obviously something that as soon as I beat (Cristian) Garin (in the quarter-finals), Rafa was a high possibility, someone I've had so many good battles with before.
"We've both taken a win against each other at this tournament. I really did want to see how the third chapter was going to go.
"Obviously you never want to see someone like that, so important to the sport, go down with an injury like that. He's just played so much tennis. He's had a gruelling season.
"I just hope he recovers. I'm sure I'll play him again on a big stage."
Despite his saloon passage through, Kyrgios said there was no hiding his excitement at getting an opportunity that he never dreamed of to play in a grand slam final.
"After everything, it's pretty cool," said the 27-year-old, a decade after winning the Wimbledon junior boys' doubles title with fellow Australian Andrew Harris.
"I never thought I'd be here at all, to be brutally honest with you.
"Obviously when I was No. 1 junior in the world and I was playing here as a junior, I can't give enough credit to juniors, what it did for my confidence.
"Being around the grand slams at that young age, being around some of the top players, the facility, I don't think I would have had the breakthrough in the men's so quickly. But I never thought that I'd be playing.
"I saw some of the professionals walking around and I'd be a junior here, and I never thought I'd be playing for the actual men's title.
"I feel like it's the pinnacle of tennis. Once you are able to raise a grand slam trophy, that's like, I mean, kind of what else is there to achieve?
"So I never thought I'd be here. I'm just super proud and I'm just ready to go. I'm going to give it my all and we'll see what happens."
Kyrgios said he only learned of Nadal's withdrawal while having dinner on Thursday night.
"Honestly, my first feeling was a bit of disappointment," he said ahead of his blockbuster championship decider on Sunday against top-seeded six-time champion Novak Djokovic.
"My energy was so focused on playing him and tactically how I'm going to go out there and play, the emotions of walking out there, all that type of stuff.
"But it wouldn't have been easy for him to do that. I'm sure that a lot of his team members and himself, there would be a part of him that wanted to play, for sure.
"He barely lost a match this year. He wanted to probably go for all four (slams). So it wouldn't be easy.
"Look, we've had a lot of run-ins, a lot of battles. I'm sure at the end of the day everyone did want to see us go to war out there.
"I hope he just gets better."
