Kyrgios is ‘relaxed’ ahead of bid to win first major title

Nick Kyrgios said he wants to keep an even keel as the pressure of home expectations weighs on him at this year’s Australian Open in Melbourne.

The tempestuous 22-yearold has the brilliance and talent to win his national Open, yet his brittle state of mind has often malfunctioned, to his detriment.

Roger Federer, who rates Kyrgios as a threat to the established order in the year’s opening grand slam, says the volatile Australian is a work in progress.

“When he’s on, he’s on, and he’s really difficult to beat,” Federer said.

“For him it’s maybe in his mind and his body, because he still needs to work much more than he currently is.”

Kyrgios won his first home ATP Tour title at the Brisbane International and is looking to go farther than a quarter-final appearance in Melbourne three years ago.

He is facing Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva on his favourite Hisense Arena court in today’s first round and could face world No 3 Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round.

“I’d like to do well. I’m not going to say quarter-finals, semi-finals, anything like that. I just want to take it one round at a time,” Kyrgios said. “I don’t want to look ahead at all.

“I want to take care of business one round at a time.”

Kyrgios’s mental strength and attitude always come up in the conversation about his title chances, but he said he wants to keep things at an even keel.

Kyrgios said he feels better placed to make a deep run at this year’s Australian Open.

“I feel relaxed,” he said. “Obviously, winning a tournament before you play a grand slam always helps.”

Kyrgios said he had no injury problems heading into the tournament.

“Yeah, my knee feel good. My physio flew in, so I’ve had him for the last two, three days. I’ve had the luxury of getting treated in my room at my hotel,” he said.

“Haven’t been spending too much time around the courts. I’ve been kind of doing my practice, getting out of here, and just relaxing. So it’s been good.”

Kyrgios said he has the physical resilience to put together the best-of-five-set matches potentially over the two weeks.

“I feel very confident in best-of-five matches,” he said. “I’ve played a lot of them now.”