LONDON: Nick Kyrgios resumes his bittersweet relationship with Wimbledon vowing to continue making “top 10 players look ordinary.”
The volatile Australian shot to fame at the All England Club in 2014 when ranked 114 in the world, he stunned two-time champion Rafael Nadal.
Kyrgios has been defeating the stars and upsetting officialdom while delighting his army of fans ever since.
“I’ve played top-10 players in the world this year and made them look pretty ordinary,” the 27-year-old said Sunday.
“I know where my game’s at. I know if I’m feeling confident, I’m playing well, I’m able to just light it up kind of whenever I want.”
The facts back him up.
Having sat out the entire claycourt season, Kyrgios has excelled on grass this summer, reaching the semi-finals back-to-back in Stuttgart and Halle.
World number six Stefanos Tsitsipas fell to the Australian in Halle. That was the Greek’s third loss in four meetings with Kyrgios.
Fellow members of the top such as Andrey Rublev and Casper Ruud have also fallen victim to a sometimes inspired Kyrgios in 2022.
Kyrgios made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2014 on the back of his famous win over Nadal.
However, recent visits have not been so fruitful and he has yet to get past the fourth round in his last six visits.
Along the way, he has been accused of tanking, complained about the state of the grass last year while admitting he deliberately speared a ball at Nadal in the pair’s bad-tempered 2019 rematch.
Kyrgios knows he has the tools to make the second week at Wimbledon again.
“I know if I’m serving well and I’m playing well, I can beat anyone. I have pretty much beaten everyone in the draw before,” he said.
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