Deflated Kyrgios out of French Open Wimbledon main target
NICK Kyrgios maintains he is a Wimbledon force despite injuries and the death of his grandfather scuppering his French Open hopes.
A deflated Kyrgios is hoping a doubles run at Roland Garros with Australian Davis Cup teammate Jordan Thompson can boost his spirits ahead of next month’s grasscourt showpiece at the All England Club.
With a rare four aces in one flawless service game, Kyrgios displayed in his 5- 7, 6- 4, 6- 1, 6- 2 second- round loss in Paris to Kevin Anderson that he remains very much a top- six title contender at London’s SW19.
Despite conceding his battered body needs rest, Kyrgios is confident four weeks is “enough time” to recover and prepare for tennis’s most prestigious event. But he’s playing a dangerous balancing act.
“At the same time I need rest, but I need the practice as well,” Kyrgios said. “I haven’t been balls.
“For my first round, I was serving and I only played three sets and my shoulder was sore.
“So usually at grand slams I don’t really feel my body at all, really. That’s just a sign that my body is a bit underdone.
“I haven’t really put together any good training in the last couple weeks, obviously just trying to manage some niggles and obviously I haven’t really structured any good training in the last five weeks.
“So I don’t think I was match- ready to play best- offive- sets.”
A Wimbledon quarter- finalist at just 19 three years ago, Kyrgios is adamant he remains a threat – and doubles in Paris is central to his preparation.
He and Thompson knocked out French second seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre- Hugues Herbert in round one to open up the draw beautifully for a run at the title. hitting enough tennis
“It’s good just to keep playing core matches, just keep playing,” Kyrgios said. “I think me and Thommo can do well here as well. I’m just going to focus on that for now.
“I was going to maybe go home after this week if I didn’t do so well here, but obviously winning a round and still in doubles, it’s cutting the time pretty slim.
“So I don’t really know what I’m going to do next week. I’m not sure.”
Kyrgios’s only scheduled grasscourt event before Wimbledon is Queens. Currently ranked 19th, he needs to improve his ranking to secure a top- 16 seeding to ensure he won’t run into any top- eight heavyweights.
Kyrgios, however, is more concerned about rediscovering his mojo.
“I haven’t put in enough work to have gone deep here. The whole team knows it,” he said.