Wimbledon has seen many sides of Nick Kyrgios down the years, from the boorish to the sublime, but after reaching his first grand slam semi‑final the Australian offered a fresh side to his complex character: humility.

“I thought my ship had sailed,” he admitted after a victory against the Chilean Cristian Garín which was never as comfortable as the 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 scoreline suggested. “I didn’t go about things great in the early part of my career.”

He had, he also conceded, got “lucky” on a couple of key points. “The score does not reflect how tough that was. I felt I was playing on the back foot a lot.”

However, introspection soon gave way to bombast when he was asked about a mouth-watering semi‑final with Rafael Nadal on Friday – assuming the Spaniard recovers from an abdominal injury sustained in his match against Taylor Fritz.

“It would be pretty special to play Rafa here,” Kyrgios said. “We’ve had some absolute battles on that Centre Court. He’s won one against me, and I’ve won one against him.

“Obviously, we are two completely different personalities. I feel like we respect the hell out of each other, though. I feel like that would be a mouth-watering kind of encounter for everyone around the world. That would probably be the most-watched match of all time. I would argue that.”

Kyrgios came into this quarter‑final barely 24 hours after it was reported that he will face a court in Australia next month after being summonsed to face a charge of assaulting a former girlfriend. Yet he retained the backing of the majority of the No 1 Court crowd who saw him endure some tricky moments, especially early on.

The match could hardly have started worse as his Chilean opponent immediately rattled a forehand winner past him, and then another, to break to love. By the time Garín had won the first nine points, Kyrgios was getting close to boiling point.

“Come on, Kygs!” his team called from the stands. “Don’t say that,” he responded before demanding more energy from them.

Soon the match was nearly as exhausting for Kyrgios’s entourage as it was for him. After every point, win or lose, they had to stand up to applaud their man before squatting back down on their seats. Up and down and up, nodding their heads, urging him on.

“I don’t have a coach, I would never put that burden on someone,” he joked afterwards. “Each and every one of my team plays a role but no one knows my game better than I do.”

However, after finally getting on the board after two aces – at 126mph and 131mph – he began to calm down. One break brought it back to 3-3. Another clinched the first set.

After an early break in the second, Garín’s legs started to look a little heavy, the legacy of his epic five‑setter against Alex de Minaur. But instead of falling away he rallied and twice had two break back points at 1-3 and 2-4 – only for Kyrgios’s serve to hold firm.

By now the Australian seemed annoyed by shouts from the crowd. But he held it together in the third set as Garín hit 13 winners to one unforced error – a double fault – as it went to a tie-break. When the Chilean went 5-3 up, a fourth set was on the cards. But Kyrgios held on, before collapsing to the ground in joy after securing victory.

“If you asked anyone if I was able to do that the last couple years, I think everyone would have probably said: ‘No, he doesn’t have the mental capacity, he doesn’t have the fitness capacity, he doesn’t have the discipline, all that,’” he said.

“I almost started doubting myself with all that traffic coming in and out of my mind. I just sat there today and soaked it all in. At the same time I feel like I don’t want to stop here, either.”

However, he also found time to praise his Chilean opponent for pushing him so hard that he dare not dare risk a single trick shot, such as the tweener between his legs.

“The score does not reflect how tough that was,” Kygrios said. “I just felt like I was on the back foot so much, I couldn’t afford to play shots like that, to be honest. And my God, that forehand return is going to give me nightmares.”

Asked how he would describe his road to his first major semi-final, he smiled. “Rocky.”

And with Nadal and Novak Djokovic lurking on the path ahead it isn’t going to get any easier.