'Heartbreaking' - Nick Kyrgios on the match that 'really, really hurt', says 'I can win a Grand Slam'

Nick Kyrgios has reflected on the match this season that «really, really hurt» when he suffered a shock defeat to Karen Khachanov at the US Open. The 27-year-old from Canberra, who skipped the Laver Cup in London last month in order to spend some time with his family back home, is back in action this week at the Japan Open in Tokyo. Ad Kyrgios has enjoyed a fine season with a breakthrough in reaching the final at Wimbledon, where he lost out to Novak Djokovic, and fancied his chances of winning his first Grand Slam singles title at Flushing Meadows with the Serb absent.

ATP Tel AvivDjokovic comfortably beats Cilic to claim first title since Wimbledon at Tel Aviv Open15 HOURS AGO However, the Australian suffered a surprise five-set loss to Khachanov in the quarter-finals — a result that he described as «heartbreaking». Speaking to the media ahead of his opening match in Japan, Kyrgios made it clear that the match still hurts him. «I thought the US Open was a great chance — obviously, that one really, really hurt because I definitely thought that I was the favourite after I beat [Daniil] Medvedev,» he said.

More positively, the world No. 20 believes that the result has «added a bit of fuel» to his motivation ahead of his home Grand Slam at the Australian Open in January where he will be expected to make another strong run at singles glory. «Now I just have to wait until the Australian Open but I just want to keep my form, the way I'm playing, I want to keep that going,» he said.