Nick Kyrgios appears to have finally quashed his long-running feud with Casper Ruud by lavishing praise on the tennis star for his performance at the US Open.

The outspoken Australian has infamously been a vocal critic of Ruud’s efforts on the ATP Tour and once labelled the three-time Grand Slam finalist as “boring” to watch.

But there was only entertainment from the Norwegian in his impressive 6-4, 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (3) victory over Gael Monfils to reach the third round, where he will face Juncheng Shang of China.

Ruud admitted he was keen to right some wrongs after losing to Zhang Zhizhen in an absorbing five-set encounter last year, which spoke a lot for his unusually fired-up character out on court.

“It was a tough five-setter last year. So I wanted to get my revenge,” he said on court. “It was a different player of course today.

“That loss kind of stung a bit obviously with the result from 2022. I reached the final and I was nowhere near defending that. So I lost in the second round.

“I’ll always have good memories coming back here but a few tough losses as well. That was one of them. Luckily I avenged it tonight.”

Instead of taking to social media to call him out, Kyrgios appeared to change his tune completely towards the 25-year-old. Kyrgios wrote via his official X account: “Ruud going under the radar…… how times have turned, I really enjoy watching his tennis. Real talk.”

It represents a huge shift in attitude from the one-time Wimbledon finalist, 29, who previously reacted angrily to Ruud’s comments about him at the Italian Open in 2019, which was the starting point of their row.

The tension between the pair threatened to boil over after Kyrgios threw a chair during their encounter, which Ruud was not pleased with.

The Norwegian tennis star took aim at Kyrgios for his behaviour and called for him to receive a six-month ban for his actions. He stoked the fire by calling Kyrgios an “idiot” and “totally crazy.”

That’s all it took to light the fire underneath Kyrgios, who hit back saying: “Hey, Casper Ruud, next time you have something to say, I would appreciate you say it to my face.

“I’m sure you wouldn’t run your mouth so much after that. Until then I will continue to rather watch paint dry then watch you play tennis, boring as f***.”

Kyrgios hasn’t played a professional match since June 2023 and last appeared at a Grand Slam at Flushing Meadows in 2022. But his time away from the sport seems to have helped him keep his emotions in check after undertaking media duties at Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

While things may be more magnanimous in the future between them, Kyrgios proved he is still a match for world No. 8 Ruud after beating him in an Ultimate Tennis Showdown match (UTS) in New York last week.