Aussie mischief-maker Nick Kyrgios will return to the hallowed turf of Wimbledon on Thursday night for his second-round match against 26th seed Filip Krajinovic.
It will be the first time the Canberran steps back onto court since he labelled a line judge a “snitch” and spat in the direction of spectators during his five-set victory over British wildcard Paul Jubb.
“He’s been all over the papers in the tabloid press in Britain and they haven’t been treating him favourably,” host of Stan’s Grand Slam Daily Chris Stubbs said of the frenzied reaction to the Aussie’s first round histrionics.
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“How he is treated and how he reacts to that is huge.”
Previewing Kyrgios’ upcoming clash with Krajinovic, Australian tennis great Wally Masur used a quote from former world No.1 Pete Sampras to explain how the backlash toward Kyrgios could impact his Wimbledon campaign.
“You can’t win a slam in the first week but you sure can lose it,” he told Grand Slam Daily.
“I guess what he (Sampras) was alluding to is cumulative stress on the match court and just trying to keep yourself calm and navigate yourself through the off days.
“And this is what you worry about with Nick, every time there is confrontation your body releases adrenaline, you’ve got to deal with the press – you’ve got to navigate that minefield.
“He’s got a tough match coming up against Krajinovic who’s a very, very talented player – he can be a little bit temperamental himself, so it could be a lively match – but Nick in my mind once again starts favourite in this match even though Krajinovic is the seed.
“Controversy follows him, is that what he wants? I don’t know but somehow it arrives.
“And does it help him? Well, you’d probably say given his amount of talent you would have thought that he’s the kind of player that could push deep into any major and into the second week. We’ve only seen it on a few occasions so we’ll see how he handles it after all the drama of the first round.”
Kyrgios defeated Jubb in five sets on Wednesday, spending just over three hours on court.
With the physical effort demanded to overcome Jubb, combined with the emotions of the media farce that transpired, Stubbs questioned Kyrgios’ ability to back up in the second round.
“Nick looks really good to me physically,” Masur said.
“He spent a lot of time in Sydney, he didn’t play a full season this year, and he was actually playing a lot of basketball – a pretty physical pursuit.
“So physically he looks good and I know he’s always got a racquet in this hand, he’s always practising, so I think that (fitness) will be OK. You just worry about the off-court drama. Where does that leave him?
“He can beat him, but will he?” asked Stubbs.
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The match will be played on Court 2 at the All England Club. This is thought to have been scheduled so that the match is played in prime time in Australia.
Play on Court 2 begins at 8pm AEST. With the match between No.4 seed Paula Badosa and Irina Bara kicking off the session, Kyrgios is not expected to be on court before 9.30pm.
Centre Court action does not commence until 10.30pm with local Katie Boulter taking on No.6 seed Karolina Pliskova. While Court 1’s order of play starts with Aussie Jordan Thompson’s meeting No.4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas at 10pm (AEST).
The three men’s matches on Centre Court and Court 1 feature Tsitsipas, Rafael Nadal and Aussie Alex de Minaur, all of whom rank ahead of Kyrgios.
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