Former World No. 15 Wally Masur has backed Australian prodigy Nick Kyrgios to succeed World No. 1 Roger Federer, 10-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal and Serbinator Novak Djokovic as the next tennis superstar.
Masur, a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist has seen his fellow Australian from close quarters and he believes the 22-year-old definitely has the potential to reach the summit of the men’s rankings.
Reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion Roger Federer is the current World No. 1 after usurping his great rival Rafael Nadal from the top of the ATP rankings by winning the title in Rotterdam in February.
Nadal, on the other hand, is out of the sport due to a hip injury. The Spaniard was expected to make his return to action in Acapulco but was forced to withdraw from the event because of the aforementioned issue. Subsequently, the Majorcan pulled out of the Indian Wells and the Miami Masters after having consultations with his doctors.
Djokovic, meanwhile, had minor surgery on his elbow last month and is set to participate in the tournament in California, where Federer is the defending champion.
“I’m backing Nick to have a big year, he’s a phenomenal talent, we talk about the next gen of players coming through and from a potential perspective, for me, he’s the one,” Masur said.
“But there’s a lot to tennis, there’s the lifestyle, the travel, the training, it’s pretty monotonous and there’s a real process behind it and you’ve got to get a lot of things right to absolutely maximise your potential.
“Everybody is on a journey, [Andy] Murray and Djokovic weren’t born into greatness, they worked their way to it.
“It took them a while to settle into their game and comfortable in their own skin and maximise their potential to become grand slam winners and they’ve certainly done a pretty good job of that over the last decade.
“Nick is on a journey and we saw some incredibly positive signs over this summer. He’s a top-10 player every day of the week and once you put yourself inside that top 10, anything is possible.”
