Nick Kyrgios on Rafael Nadal's US Open win over Daniil Medvedev – 'My favourite player'

Nick Kyrgios hailed his ‘favourite player’ Daniil Medvedev after he was beaten in the US Open final by Rafael Nadal.

Medvedev blazed a trail through the summer hard court season and Kyrgios has been his hype man from the sidelines.

Kyrgios beat Medvedev to win the Citi Open but the Russian bounced back by reaching the Rogers Cup final the following week, ultimately losing to Rafael Nadal.

Medvedev finally achieved success when he beat David Goffin in the Cincinnati Masters final and Kyrgios tweeted: “MEDVEDEV… dudes crazy” with a host of shocked emojis.

Then at the US Open, Medvedev created controversy when he took aim at fans in an on-court interview for booing him.

And Kyrgios said on Twitter: “Hahaha I rateeeee what medvedev said to the crowd last night.”

Medvedev would bounce back from that moment and turn the boos into cheers as he went on to make the first Grand Slam final of his career against Nadal.

And in the end, Medvedev would lose a five-set, four hours and 50-minute epic to Nadal on Arthur Ashe.

But Kyrgios stood by his man in a post on his Instagram story, which said: “My favourite player” with a picture of Medvedev.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Medvedev said that in time, despite his disappointment, he will give himself credit for an excellent summer of tennis.

He said: “Amazing experience. My wife always tells me that I have to be happy about myself sometimes, because I’m really self-criticizing.

“For example, tonight I’m not happy to lose, but I have to give myself credit for these two weeks. It’s been amazing.

“Before the tournament, my best result was fourth round of a slam. I had some physical problems.

“Sometimes I didn’t play as good as I wanted. But I managed to be in the final. I managed to give huge fight to one of the best players in the history of our sport.

“Have to give myself credit. I hope I grew a lot doing these things. But I need to continue and I need to be better.”

source: express.co.uk