It isn’t very often that a Davis Cup clash is headlined by a single person, but Nick Kyrgios’ recent surge in form has earned him that position.
Kyrgios has arrived in Brisbane to prepare for Australia’s Davis Cup clash against America. He enters the team competition in his finest form following an impressive stint in America. At Indian Wells he reached the quarterfinals before withdrawing due to illness. Then at the Miami Open he lost an epic three-set encounter against Roger Federer in the semifinals.
“Nick has been playing some of the best tennis on tour this season so he’s in great form and he should have a lot of confidence,” American Davis Cup captain Jim Courier said.
“We’re going to have to do something special to beat him.”
The upcoming tie will take place on the Pat Rafter Arena at the venue of the annual Brisbane International. Kyrgios will be joined in the team by Sam Groth, Jordan Thompson and John Peers. On paper they are the weakest team against America, who have a quartet of singles players ranked in the world’s top-40. Nevertheless, Courier is taking nothing for granted against the host nation.
“We’ve lost to a lot of players ranked lower than someone like Jordan Thompson so there won’t be any complacency on our end,” Courier said.
“We’ve seen too many surprises; we’ve beaten Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka in this competition while we were ranked below and lost to players outside the top 100 so everything’s up for grabs in Davis Cup.”
It is the second consecutive year that the two nations have met. In 2016 Australia lost 3-1 to the Americans. The tie was marred by a heated confrontation between Kyrgios, who missed the tie due to illness, and Bernard Tomic. Shortly after their defeat Tomic accused his team mate of ‘faking’ his illness to miss the tie. The two have since resolved their argument.
Brisbane’s bid to woo Kyrgios
It isn’t just the Davis Cup on the mind of officials at the Queensland Tennis Centre. The tournament director of the Brisbane International is hoping to lure Kyrgios back to the event after a four-year hiatus. The 21-year-old has only played at the event once in his career, where he lost in the first round of qualifying at the 2013 event.
“It would be great to get him to the Brisbane International — the Brisbane public is going to enjoy him playing here at the Davis Cup and he will have a great experience here,’’ Geoff Quinlan told The Courier Mail.
“We’d love to have him here next summer. Nick has hit a rich vein of form and is one of the hottest players on the tour right now.”
This year’s Brisbane Open, which was won by Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, featured five top-10 players in the draw.
