Nick Kyrgios said he feels like he is in a better place this year. Photo: Supplied by Tennis Australia.
There was the usual arguing with the chair umpire, berating his team for not supporting him, a myriad of unforced errors. But with the damaging serve that he possesses, Nick Kyrgios remains a title contender on the Wimbledon grass.
The Canberra local hit 42 aces – a personal record – and saved all five break points on his serve, as the 15th seed defeated Denis Istomin 7-6, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 in the first round on Tuesday night (3 July).
The four-set contest had many mid-match mood changes for Kyrgios, as his attitude fluctuated from intense to laidback during the two and a half hour contest. When asked about how he controls his mental state on court, the 23-year-old referred to it as a tug-of-war.
“I just have so many thoughts when I’m out there. I get so angry and I go through so many different patches in a game,” he said during his press conference after the match.
“I guess it’s so hard for me to find that balance. I look like I don’t care one minute, then the next minute I’m playing really well. It’s a tug-of-war all the time.”
But the Canberra star admitted that he feels like he is in a better mental place this year and remains confident he can make a run deep into the second week of the Championships at the All England Club.
“I’m in a lot better place than I was last year. I came into Wimbledon last year injured, pretty bad mental state. I was out of the game for two and a half months, so coming back, I’ve been excited,” Kyrgios said.
“I guess I’m in kind of like a happy place and I feel like I’m playing well.
“I feel like I’m one of the guys that can cause a bit of an uproar at this event so we will see how it goes.”
"How did you make that?"
Even @NickKyrgios couldn't believe this from Denis Istomin ?#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/V5qPnzsMPJ
— Wimbledon (@Wimbledon) July 3, 2018
Kyrgios will meet Dutchman Robin Haase in the second round, who beat Marius Copil of Romania. Kyrgios will be joined in the second round by fellow Aussies Alex De Minaur, Bernard Tomic, Matt Ebden, Sam Stosur, Daria Gavrilova and Ash Barty.
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