Nick Kyrgios has the belief he can win Wimbledon
Nick Kyrgios has always believed that he can win Wimbledon and he is starting to make believers out of a few others now after an impressive demolition of Filip Krajinovic.
Kyrgios struggled to get beyond young British prospect Paul Jubb in the first round, reacting to a member of the crowd whom he felt was out to set him off and also raging at a line judge.
He was far more focused in blowing past Krajinovic 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 and said he needed to send a message to his critics.
Kyrgios felt that just getting through his first round match was a huge moment for him and has galvanised his resolve to go deep at the All England Club.
“I think just getting over the line in that first round was massive,” he said. “But, you know, I’ve been playing some really good tennis over the last month, and I was really surprised with the way I played the other day – I wasn’t great.
“But there were a lot of positives. I didn’t play anywhere near my best [against Paul Jubb] and got through it. Today, I was kind of obviously in my zone – great body language, just played well.
“I just wanted to remind everyone that I’m pretty good. I’m just happy. We’ve been working hard, and as I’ve said, we’ve been preparing for this tournament.
“It’s been circled on my calendar pretty much all year, and I’m so excited to be here again. It’s generally a tournament I think is my best chance to win a Grand Slam out of all the four.
“So I think if I just keep taking it match by match – I’ve still got an incredibly tough draw. But today, I could not have played better, and now I’ll just recover and get ready.”
Eurosport Pundit Barbara Schett still believes that Kyrgios needs to learn to control himself on court.
“Well, it seems like whenever Nick Kyrgios is on the court something happens, especially lately when the tension is piling up,” she said.
“It seemed like a fan harassed him, or he was not happy with somebody.
“The way he spat in the direction of the fan is not right and I’m not sure why he has done that. For him, it’s always important to relieve some tension somehow, but that’s certainly not the place to do anything like that. It’s never a place to do anything like that.
“Every time, I feel with Nick Kyrgios we don’t only talk about his tennis, but we talk about how he behaves on the court. When will he learn? That’s the question.”