NICK KYRGIOS faces a huge test in front of his home crowd at the Australian Open as he takes on number 3 seed Dominic Thiem. The outspoken Aussie came through a five-set thriller against 29th seed Ugo Humbert in round two as he smashed his racket twice in arguments with umpire Marijana Veljovic. But he […]
NICK KYRGIOS faces a huge test in front of his home crowd at the Australian Open as he takes on number 3 seed Dominic Thiem.
The outspoken Aussie came through a five-set thriller against 29th seed Ugo Humbert in round two as he smashed his racket twice in arguments with umpire Marijana Veljovic.
But he knows he will have to be even better against Austrian Thiem, who pushed Novak Djokovic all the way in last year’s final.
Kyrgios: “He’s probably one of the most physical guys on tour. He’s an extremely good player.
“He’s definitely, I have actually seen him progress. He’s a bit older than I am.
“I actually saw him in juniors and then I saw him struggle for a couple of years; futures, challies, and then to see him get to the top of the game.
“It’s actually been pretty cool to see him develop and finally find what he needs to do to win matches.
“He trains like an absolute animal. He’s consistent every day. And I actually have a lot of respect for him.
“I think his style of tennis is not easy to play. He’s super physical. But I’m not even thinking about it. Like, I’m just hurting thinking about playing him right now.
“Whatever happens against Thiem happens. I’m going to go out there, serve, play with instinct and if it’s enough, it’s enough. If it isn’t, I’m all right with that.”
Dominic Thiem 2/9
Nick Kyrgios 16/5
