Nick Kyrgios has called on his Australian compatriots at Wimbledon to believe in themselves and believe that they are capable of creating major upsets at the tournament that begins on Monday.
The talented 27 year old who in 2014, at age 19 debuted at Wimbledon to reach the quarter finals after beating then world number one Rafael Nadal in five sets (he fell to Milos Raonic) believes the eight other players in Men’s draw can do well in the tournament.
His doubles team mate Thanasi Kokkinakis, and fellow Aussies Jordan Thompson, John Millman, James Duckworth and Max Purcell will be in action on the first day of the grand slam tournament, Monday (England time). Kyrgios, Alex de Minaur, Alexei Porpyrin and Jason Kubler will face their first-round opponents on Tuesday.
“You look at Thanasi, Thompson, Millman, De Minaur, Duckworth – they are all capable of playing at top-50 level. I’ve grown up and seen it. I almost believe in them more than they believe in themselves at times,” Kyrgios told the ABC.
He said that he had a high-level practice session with Thompson and believed he was playing like a top-20 player.
“I want to see him break through, like if I had to play one of them – I played ‘Thommo’ here (2019), and I wasn’t happy about it. We had a five-set match.
“I know what they are capable of. I wouldn’t be surprise if any of them had a breakthrough week. They’ve just got to believe. If they had more belief, who knows how far they’d go,” Kyrgios said.
Later today, Monday, Kokinakis is set to play Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak. The winner could face world number 3 Novak Djokovic in the second round.
Duckworth will face former two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray on centre court on Monday. Both men have undergone hip surgery.
Australia’s Zoe Hives will face world number 5, Greece’s Maria Sakkari. Astra Sharma will play Germany’s Tatjana Maria and Maddison Inglis will take on Dalma Galfi of Hungary. Wild card Daria Saville will face Bulgarian Viktoriya Tomova.