Canberra tennis star Nick Kyrgios has declared his goal to become the world's best player but his mother is too scared to watch and his brother is too nervous to eat before his third-round match at Wimbledon on Saturday night.
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Kyrgios continued his remarkable rise to international fame when he scored a shock five-set win in the early hours of Friday morning, saving nine match points in a stunning effort to beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
Mother Nill hid in her Watson bedroom until she heard cheers from the lounge room as Kyrgios' older brother Christos erupted with excitement when the former Daramalan College student secured the biggest win of his career.
The 19-year-old is also considering a move back to Canberra to use the capital as his base to chase his tennis dreams.
Kyrgios is the youngest player left in the Wimbledon tournament – regarded as the biggest and best tennis event in the world – and if he beats Jiri Vesely, of the Czech Republic, in the third round on Saturday, Nill and Christos will book flights to London to join Nick and dad George.
He will still pocket $128,000 for his efforts if he loses, almost doubling his career prizemoney and adding valuable experience in his bid to win a Grand Slam title.
''He loves the stage, and this is the biggest stage of all," Mrs Kyrgios said.
"It was exciting but I couldn't watch. For his first round match I did the dusting. For his win [on Friday morning] I locked myself in the bedroom and waited to hear what happened.
"Christos didn't even eat the roast I cooked him; he was too nervous to eat.
"But we will go over if he wins this next one. I'm fine if I'm watching from the stands because I yell my support and feel like I'm helping him."
His Wimbledon performance is set to launch Kyrgios into the world's top 100 for the first time and it is the furthest he has been in one of tennis' four major tournaments.
He rocketed to fame in January when he made his Australian Open debut in Melbourne.
His website crashed when 250,000 fans tried to log on and his Twitter follower tally has increased by 11,000 this year.
Kyrgios is part of a new generation of international Canberra sport stars.
The former junior world No.1's success follows Canberra basketballer Patrick Mills' NBA championship in the United States, cyclist Michael Matthews as a Tour de France contender and soccer star Tom Rogic.
The Kyrgios family is tight-knit and the tennis prodigy is considering a permanent move to Canberra to launch his bid to win a major title.
There is a family calendar on the kitchen wall at the Kyrgios home in Watson that has a schedule of who out of Nill, George and Christos is on tour with Kyrgios. George and London-based sister Halimah are at Wimbledon. Nill and Christos were in Paris for Kyrgios' French Open defeat.
Family is the secret to Kyrgios' success and for proof he will speak to Tennis Australia officials after Wimbledon about whether he can move from Melbourne back to Canberra to train in the capital.
"I think it would be good for him, I think he would be more productive in Canberra,'' Mrs Kyrgios said. ''He's got people here ... being in Melbourne isn't the same, it's not the same as being with your family.''
His Wimbledon wins will boost his world No.144 ranking and have already boosted his profile.
Gasquet believes Kyrgios has shown he has the potential to win one of tennis' four Grand Slam titles.
The family is still riding high and the phone ran hot on Friday with congratulatory messages. But despite being bleary-eyed and too excited to sleep, they are preparing to do it all again on Saturday night.
"It's the second round; there's still six or seven rounds to go," Christos said.
"That's not detracting from what he's done and achieved, but he's got a better opportunity to go further. The same people who supported him [earlier this year] are supporting him now."
