By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday June 30, 2022
Nick Kyrgios breezed past Filip Krajinovic in a cool 85 minutes on Day 4.
Photo Source: Getty
After struggling through a five-setter against British wild card Paul Jubb on Day 1, Nick Kyrgios turned up the heat in his second-round as he blitzed Queen’s runner-up Filip Krajinovic on No.2 court on Day 3.
The confidence is palpable with the World No.40.
“I think just getting over the line in that first round was massive,” Kyrgios said after the match.. “But you know, I've been playing some really good tennis over the last month so I was really surprised, you know, the way I played the other day. It wasn't great, but there's a lot of positives. I didn’t play anywhere near my best and obviously got through it. And today, obviously, I was kind of in my zone, just great body language, just played well.
“You know, I just wanted to remind everyone that I'm pretty good.”
Wimbledon - My best chance to win a Slam
In a major tone shift, Kyrgios talked about his hopes at Wimbledon, even mentioning the possibility of winning a Slam title for the first time in.
He told the crowd that he’s had Wimbledon in his sights since he left Miami, and now that he’s here he’s clearly thinking about making a deep run.
Kyrgios has not been to the second week at Wimbledon since 2016. He made his best performance at SW19 on his debut, when he upset Rafael Nadal and reached the quarterfinals at the age of 19.
Kyrgios is 17-7 lifetime, the 70.833 winning percentage his best at a Slam.
“I’m just happy,” the 27-year-old explained. “I’ve been working hard and you know, as I said, I've been preparing for this tournament. It's been circled on my calendar pretty much all year and I'm so excited to be here again. It's genuinely a tournament where I think it's my best chance to win a Grand Slam, of all the four.”
With Stefanos Tsitsipas lurking as his potential third-round opponent, the Aussie knows he’ll have to play the type of tennis he did on Thursday – precision serving and decisive baseline striking.
He was a menace against Krajinovic, cracking 50 winners against 10 unforced errors as he won 91 of the 120 points in the match.
He’ll have a much more difficult test in the third round, no doubt.
“I’m just taking it match by match, I’ve obviously, got an incredibly tough draw, still, but you know, today I couldn't play better and now I can just recover and get ready.”