As Nick Kyrgios trained on the Aorangi practice courts at Wimbledon on Thursday, a club photographer snapped a moody portrait that seemed to capture the Australian’s essence. Wearing his white peaked hat backwards and sporting a dangling necklace, two earrings in his left lobe and a full beard, Kyrgios’s eyes were narrowed and his brow furrowed. For that split second, with his glance cast towards the camera with suspicion, last year’s finalist appeared as watchful as a toddler about to have their favourite toy taken away.
Our 2022 finalist is in the building.#Wimbledon | @NickKyrgios pic.twitter.com/3u44pi9EFE
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) June 28, 2023
Never one completely in love with tennis, the Canberran has additional reason to feel angst heading into the major beginning on Monday after a difficult preparation.
After the best season of his career, a meniscus tear sustained in an exhibition last December stalled the mercurial talent just as he was delivering on his remarkable potential. The No 31 seed made a stuttering return from that lengthy absence in Stuttgart last month, where he reached for his knee more frequently than he landed a winning volley. The straight sets loss to Wibing Yu, who was enjoying his first tour outing on a grass court, is the only match Kyrgios has played this year. It was clearly a painful one for him.
Logic dictates that should disqualify his chances of success when he plays former top 10-ranked Belgian David Goffin in the opening round at Wimbledon on Monday. But logic and Kyrgios scarcely go hand in hand.
This is particularly so at Wimbledon where despite the formality of the club being at odds with his disregard for tennis convention, the former world No 13 has produced his best. A seven-time ATP Tour title-winner, Kyrgios has won 20 of the 28 matches he has played at the All England Club, with his strike rate of 71% superior there to any other major. It took the world’s best return of serve, seven-time Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, to deny him last year in a compelling final 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3). Kyrgios will probably always rue the service game he dropped when leading 40-0 at 4-all in the third set when the decider was very much in the balance.
Kyrgios trained on Saturday morning at Wimbledon with fellow Australian Jordan Thompson. But not even his compatriots have any certainty as to how he will perform against Goffin on Monday, as Australian number one Alex de Minaur said on Saturday.
“I think your guess is as good as mine,” he said. “Obviously he hasn’t had the ideal preparation coming in. The body is not holding up. I think we’re all hoping that he’s been able to take some time off to be able to perform here, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
To actually see the world No 33 on the training courts this week is a positive step given his withdrawal from grass court tournaments in Halle and Mallorca over the last fortnight. And while he may have appeared wary in Thursday’s photograph that has since drawn more than 200,000 views on social media, judging Kyrgios by the cover is rarely wise. At the initial training session attended by his girlfriend, Costeen Hatzi, Kyrgios was playful. On Friday he was back at Aorangi, this time photographed lying flat on his stomach.
There is doubt surrounding the right-hander. But what is certain is that Kyrgios, who can be an agent of chaos on and off the court, often rallies with the odds pitted against him. And his most theatrical appearances, for better and worse, have regularly unfolded on the most beautiful tennis stage of them all, namely Wimbledon. With his cursing and irreverence for the norms of tennis, Kyrgios has thrived and fallen, and felt the most intense of emotions at the club where pristine perfection is priority.
Roger Federer, whose record of eight Wimbledon titles could be equalled by Djokovic in a fortnight’s time, once described his love of the order major brings to tennis. “I love everything the tournament does,” he said. “Whether it’s the ivy on the wall or the perfect cut grass, it all makes sense.”
In contrast, Kyrgios can be nonsensical. He defies order and revels playing the disruptor, just as he did when astonishing Rafael Nadal as a teenager on centre court. A few years back he downed shots at The Dog and Fox the night before a match, then told a journalist questioning him that he had spotted her there too.
In the recent Netflix documentary Break Point, he explained the toll a mental health battle had on him, with Wimbledon in 2019 proving a critical moment in his life. It was a fraught period. Kyrgios had played another corker against Nadal. But his management, tour officials and Australian journalists were aware he was struggling. The concern for his well being was real amid whispers he might not play again. Kyrgios confirmed in Break Point that he went to a “psych ward in London to figure out his problems”.
Even by some of the wild standards he has set, when it comes to headlines, last year was one out of the box. Local wildcard Paul Jubb almost derailed him in a first match where Kyrgios spat towards a fan. Before another, he snuck on to court in red shoes, breaching the all-white colour rules. Stefanos Tsitsipas was wild-eyed about his rival’s antics in the third round.
Then an assault charge against Kyrgios was filed in Australia – which has since been dismissed. It sent a chill around Wimbledon amid questions as to whether he should be allowed to continue. The scrutiny sharpened his focus. The final against Djokovic really was terrific. The tour rebel appeared to have found his cause on the court. Then his knee betrayed him in December.
Kyrgios is a contender, not a champion. But most are not prepared to write him off, world No 1 Carlos Alcaraz and former champion John McEnroe among them. Paul McNamee even backed Kyrgios to take out Goffin on one leg. As a competitor who revels in defying convention, the challenge may be the catalyst to spark another remarkable Wimbledon run from Kyrgios.
