Australians expect a "steady genius" – Kyrgios

Canberra, Jan. 10 (Xinhua) -- Australians expect "stable genius" – Kyrgios

Xinhua News Agency reporter Xu Haijing

Nick Kyrgios is a recognized genius who has emerged in Australian tennis in recent years, but his bad temper is also known. As the 2018 Australian Open kicks off, local fans expect Kyrgios to be a "stable genius", and Kyrgios, who has just won the International Tournament in Brisbane, seems to have reason to expect more.

No one admires Kyrgios's talent the most than Davis Cup Australian captain Leiden Hewitt. As a big brother, Hewitt is more willing to pay attention to the shining points of the "bad boy" Kyrgios, and hopes that the latter can mature as soon as possible and pick up the beams of Australian tennis.

At the Brisbane International Tournament that ended on the 7th, Kyrgios first eliminated the world's third-ranked Dimitrov in the men's singles semifinals, and then defeated American Ryan Harrison 6:4, 6:2 in the final, winning his first championship in Australia. While the results were gratifying, more importantly, he did not let the distractions that appeared in the middle of the game destroy the mood.

In the final, Kyrgios applied for a medical suspension, but the referee refused. Opponent Harrison was allowed to leave the field to change clothes after the first set, which caused a strong dissatisfaction from Kyrgios and complained to the referee. In the past, similar situations have occurred many times, and Kyrgios is often distracted by this, and then he scares the referee, and finally collapses, loses the good situation, and ends up losing the game. This time, though, Kyrgios was not disturbed by negative emotions and won the victory.

For Kyrgios, Hewitt gave advice: if you want to go further in the Australian Open, the most important thing is to maintain a correct attitude throughout the game.

Hewitt said he and Kyrgios trained together for a long time in December 2017, kyrgios is highly skilled in tennis, plays with passion and explosiveness, and now it's up to him to see if he's mentally and physically ready for battle.

"Winning a Grand Slam tournament is not an easy task, you have to win 7 games and the opponents are all masters. But if Kyrgios survives the first week, anything can happen. Hewitt said.

Hewitt said he saw Kyrgios's psychological growth in Brisbane, particularly in the stress-ridden final. After defeating Dimitrov, Kyrgios became the favourite to win the title, so he was under more psychological pressure. Winning the title under pressure, Kyrgios gained a lot from it.

Predicting the upcoming Australian Open, Hewitt admitted that defending champion Federer was in a heroic state, as seen from last week's Hopman Cup in Perth. But Kyrgios is also in good shape. What's more, Kyrgios is keen to make progress in Grand Slam tournaments this year and has a strong will. (End)