Canberra’s Nick Kyrgios is poised to leave his mark on the Wimbledon boy’s tournament tonight when he plays Argentinian tenth seed Mateo Nicolas Martinez.
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The talented youngster cruised through his first round match against Greece’s Markos Kalovelonis, winning 6-2, 6-2, and is third up on court four when play resumes at the SW19 courts tonight.
He will also start his junior doubles campaign with Australian Andrew Harris, with whom he won the French Open junior doubles title with last month.
And while Kyrgiosis is confident the duo can go back-to-back in majors, head of tennis coaching at the AIS, Todd Larkham said Kyrgios has all the tools to make his single’s campaign a successful one.
‘‘Potentially he can win it [Wimbledon],’’ Larkham said.
‘‘In the lead up event he beat the No.3 in the world and he beat a couple of other guys who are in the top 20 so he has definitely got the ability to go all the way.’’
The great form of Kyrgios and fellow Australian and defending Wimbledon champion Luke Saville comes at a vital time for Australian tennis, with the big names of Australian tennis knocked out of the tournament in what was a horror week.
Bernard Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt were bundled out in the first round at the All England Club, and US Open champion Sam Stosur only managed the second round.
It is Australia’s worst grand slam performance in the 45-year open era.
But Stosur defended Australia’s standing in the sport after her defeat: ‘‘Well, I don’t think there is a major issue with Australian tennis. It’s getting better and better and I think there’s a really good crop of young juniors coming through that hopefully will be out here in years to come.’’
Larkham said a revamp of administration at Tennis Australia will be the catalyst for better results in the future.
‘‘We were in a very bad way, the sport in general not just players, but the new management team that came in have transformed the organisation ... it’s on the way up.’’
And a greater patronage from the Australian public will only assist in making the pathway from prodigious young gun to professional tennis player much easier.
‘‘The sport is growing; the Australian Open has made record profits and the facilities around Australia are being improved every year.’’
With only three men ranked inside the top 100, Larkham believes it’s up to the juniors to steer Australia out of the tennis wilderness.
‘‘Based on statistics and their age they [Kyrgios and Saville] are tracking well,’’
‘‘It’s possibly a few years away for Nick and Luke but ... we need to make sure our best kids make the transition and are successful at pro level.’’
Saville and Kyrgios are due to clash in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
