17th seed Nick Kyrgios exited his first round match at the Australian Open contempt, but far from convinced about his performance.
The Australian required less than 90 minutes to dismiss Brazil’s Rogério Dutra da Silva, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. During the largely one-sided performance, Kygios managed to fire 16 aces down the court and save both of the break point he faced. More impressively, he hit almost three times more winners than unforced errors (33-12).
All in all it was a good outcome. Although the 22-year-old swiftly pointed out after the match that he still has work to do.
“I went out there pretty nervous. I know I’m hitting the ball well. But to go out there in front of the crowd again, just trying to play well, I was a bit nervous.” Kyrgios told reporters.
“(I’m) happy to get through. I loosened up a little bit in the third set.”
“Ultimately, I thought it was a pretty good performance.” He added.
Expectations are high for the two-time grand slam quarter-finalist. Leading into Melbourne, he won his first title in over a year at the Brisbane International. Defeating Ryan Harrison in the final. Looking back at his performance from a week ago, Kyrgios admits that his latest win didn’t quite meet that standard set by him.
“Brisbane I was serving really, really well. I thought I was hitting the ball a bit freer.” He explained.
“Obviously it comes down to a bit of nerves. Just tightened up a little bit. Still managed to get it done.”
Known for his fragile temperament on the court, he was once again in the bad books in Melbourne. Five games into his match, he was slammed with a code violation after telling a member of the crowd to ‘shut the f*** up.’ Following on from that, the Australian engaged in a heated exchange with the umpire. Arguing that he should have told the crowd to quiet down.
Viktor Troicki will be Kyrgios’ next opponent on the court. The Serbian battled back from two sets down to defeat Alex Bolt 6-7(2), 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4. Last year Kyrgios dropped just three games against Troicki in their first meeting at the Canadian Open.
“He’s got a good serve. He has a great backhand. He’s a journeyman.” Kyrgios said about his second round opponent. “He’s been on the tour for a long time. Won a lot of matches. In the Grand Slams, he’s made the fourth round a lot of times. He knows the ups and downs that come in a Grand Slam match.”
Kyrgios is aiming to reach the quarter-final of his home grand slam for the first time since 2015.
