MY ACCOUNT
Nick Kyrgios took a swipe at his critics after storming to a mesmerisingly brilliant second-round win at Wimbledon, setting up an appetising clash with Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The 27-year-old Australian was largely all business and no nonsense as he won 6-2 6-3 6-1 in one hour and 25 minutes against 26th seed Filip Krajinovic, delivering the kind of performance that underlines his potential threat at this tournament.
Yet Kyrgios had been far from his best against British player Paul Jubb in round one, eventually forcing victory by taking a tight fifth set, and his on-court behaviour came in for close scrutiny too in that match.
Against Jubb, a line judge was prompted to speak to the chair umpire about Kyrgios, whose demands for some fans to be removed were punctuated by spitting towards a section of the crowd upon victory.
Kyrgios spoke after that match of receiving “a lot of disrespect” from the crowds, while he also jousted with journalists in a news conference, before being angered by what he read afterwards.
Sinking Queen’s Club runner-up Krajinovic in such a classy fashion was described by the unseeded Kyrgios as his response.
“I was pretty disappointed in my performance in the first round. Then obviously the media’s disrespect and just everything, it was just kind of a reminder to put you all back in your place from the performance today,” Kyrgios said. “He made finals at Queen’s, top 30 in the world, seeded. It’s a gentle reminder.”
Kyrgios hit 50 winners and made only 10 unforced errors, saying in an on-court interview that he had displayed “great body language”.
“I just wanted to remind everyone that I’m pretty good,” he said, with a deliberately straight face.
“I’m just happy. I’ve been working hard and I’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.
“I think it’s my best chance to win a grand slam of all the four [majors], and I’ll keep taking it match by match. I’ve got an incredibly tough draw still, and today I couldn’t have played better and now I can just recover and get ready.”
Awaiting Kyrgios in round three is Tsitsipas, a straight-sets winner on Thursday against another Australian, Jordan Thompson.
Kyrgios holds a 3-1 winning head-to-head advantage over Tsitsipas in their previous meetings, coming out on top when they met at Halle just a fortnight ago.
That recent match means Tsitsipas has it fresh in his mind what it might take to topple Kyrgios, and the Greek fourth seed told a news conference: “He claims to like grass and his game is good for the grass.
“I am thrilled to be facing him. I respect him a lot on the court and what he is trying to do. Even though he has been a little controversial in the past, I think he’s playing good tennis.
“I’m going to concentrate on doing my own thing and pay attention to my own game from start to finish. Hopefully I can have a great competitive match against him.”
