Seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer has admitted it will be ‘tough to beat’ Nick Kyrgios on the grass as both men prepare for the third grand slam of the season.
The comments come after Kyrgios’ disappointing exit at last week’s Aegon Championships when he was forced to quite his first round match after slipping on the court. In recent week’s the Australian has been troubled by a hip injury. Still, Kyrgios has managed to return to winning ways this week at an exhibition event in Buckinghamshire. On Thursday he defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-4.
Supporting Kyrgios’ credentials at Wimbledon is 18-time grand slam champion Federer. Earlier this year, the two men clashed in a marathon three-set match at the Miami Open with Federer prevailing 7-5 in the deciding tiebreaker. Speaking about his Australian rival, he provided him with some of his own advice.
“Just play focused, play inspired and believe in himself,” Federer told AAP.
“Yeah, he’s one of top contenders to surprise anybody.
“He’s got a great game on grass. He’s going to be really tough to beat.”
Throughout his career, Kyrgios’ progression on the men’s tour have been marred by his fragile mentality. In recent times he has been penalised for ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’ for his behaviour, but has improved this year. Few will doubt the potential of the Australian, who produced back-to-back wins over Novak Djokovic earlier this season.
In 2014 Kyrgios made headlines at Wimbledon when he stunned Rafael Nadal to reach the quarter-finals at the age of 19. Since then, he has enjoyed a roller coaster journey on the tour with many notable figures tipping him for grand slam success. John McEnroe recently said he has enough talent ‘to win multiple majors.’ On the other hand, Federer believes he should be more cautious.
“He’s played great this season when he’s on, so I hope we’ll see that Nick this week – or the next couple of weeks,” He said.
“To win the tournament, I mean look, he’s never been to the semis of a slam, (just) a quarter. So that’s the next hurdle for him.
“That’s what I used to look at when I was young: when can I make my first semis? And I did it here in 2003.
“That was like a big deal when I won my quarter-final match so I think before talking about winning and all that stuff, that’s what he has to do because he will have to upset somebody to get to the semis.”
“I can win it”
Kyrgios himself is not short of confidence when to comes to how much damage he could inflict on the draw at SW19 next week. Seeded 20th in the draw, he believes his recent injury setbacks will not have an impact on his performance.
“Some would say I’m probably not in the best shape this year to go in and expect something, but I feel like if I’m serving well and I’m playing the right style of tennis, the sky’s the limit at Wimbledon,” Kyrgios said. “Obviously anyone with a big game, the surface is pretty favourable.”
Asked if he could win the title, he optimistically agreed that he could ‘with a bit of luck.’ Since 1980 only two Australian men have won the Wimbledon title. Pat Cash in 1987 and Lleyton Hewitt in 2002.
“Some would say I’m probably not in the best shape this year to go in and expect something, but I feel like if I’m serving well and I’m playing the right style of tennis, the sky’s the limit at Wimbledon,” he explained. “Obviously anyone with a big game, the surface is pretty favourable.”
Since his run in 2014, the 22-year-old has reached the fourth round twice in his two most recent appearances at Wimbledon. It is currently the only grand slam where he has won ten main draw matches or more.
