Rafa: Kyrgios 'has everything' to succeed 'if he really wants to play'

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal crushed Nick Kyrgios in the final of Beijing, but says that the Aussie is very good—it's just a question of whether he can achieve his potential.

“I cannot predict that," Nadal told reporters in Beijing. "The feeling is if he really wants to play and wants to work, is one of the players that have more talent to achieve a lot of things in this sport.

“He has everything. He has an unbelievable good eyes. When you play against him, looks that he has time for everything. That's very difficult. Then, of course, he has great hands and a fantastic serve. He has everything to fight for almost all the events of the year. So let's see what can happen in the future. But of course will be a candidate for everything.”

The 21-year-old Kyrgios won three titles in 2016, but he hasn’t grabbed a big tournament this season. Still, he reached the final at the ATP Masters Series 1000 in Cincinnati, defeating Nadal in the quarters, and took down No. 4 Alexander Zverev to reach the final of the 500 event in Beijing.

Kyrgios was agitated early in the match with the umpire and received a warning, but Nadal was composed. That is something the 22-year-old still needs to work on.

“I do my way, that's the real thing. I am 31 already,” Nadal said. “I spend a lot of hours on competition during my career.

"But, of course, some moments was little bit strange for me, something little bit unusual. But I was very focus. I have lot of respect for Nick. He's one of the players with more talent on the tour. Of course, when he's playing well, when he really wants to play, without a doubt is one of the toughest opponent to play against. He's having a good run here during the whole week, so for me was a big test.”

Nadal is now 3-2 in their career meetings.

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