Kyrgios’ Wimbledon absence offers chance for de Minaur to emerge from shadow

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Key points

• Nick Kyrgios withdrew from this year’s Wimbledon due to a torn wrist ligament.
• Kyrgios made last year’s final and hoped to repeat the feat despite playing just once this season.
• Alex de Minaur is Australia’s top-ranked player and made the fourth round at Wimbledon last year.

Nick Kyrgios’ latest injury blow in what is fast becoming a lost season offers what is, admittedly, an unfortunate silver lining for Australia’s other great Wimbledon hope.

Kyrgios won’t get the chance to match, or better, his run to last year’s final, where Novak Djokovic recovered from a set down to beat him, due to a torn wrist ligament – not the knee injury that sidelined him for most of the season.

Nick Kyrgios withdrew from Wimbledon mere hours after completing his pre-tournament media commitments.Credit: Getty Images

It is a crushing blow for the 28-year-old, who restated only hours before his Wimbledon withdrawal that pulling out of this year’s Australian Open in January was “one of the hardest things” he had done because he felt, for the first time, he could have triumphed at Melbourne Park.

That is what makes his injury-filled year more frustrating – for him, and his legion of fans – because his body is faltering at a time he appeared to be figuring it out his mental approach.

Kyrgios promised he would be back, but when that is remains a mystery. The US Open, where he made the quarter-finals last year, only months after his Wimbledon run, becomes his best opportunity to salvage something from 2023.

The All England club will feel Kyrgios’ absence, as will the Australian contingent, but the stage is set for the nation’s top-ranked player, Alex de Minaur, to capture a deserved larger slice of the attention.

Whether it is the box-office Kyrgios or being described as Lleyton Hewitt-lite, de Minaur sometimes battles away in the shadows despite being a world-class tennis player on the verge of breaking into the top 10.

De Minaur even called himself “quite boring” in self-deprecating fashion in a pre-tournament interview.

He made the round of 16 for the second straight year at the Australian Open in January before running into a rampaging Djokovic, and reached the same stage in his last trip to Wimbledon, coughing up a two-sets-to-love lead to Chilean Cristian Garin.

De Minaur arrives back at the grass-court grand slam with redemption on his mind after that Garin result.

He won his maiden ATP 500 title in Acapulco, Mexico, in March and eliminated Andy Murray and Holger Rune on his way to making the Queen’s final against world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz barely a week ago. That is a serious form line for a player who makes no secret of his fondness for playing on grass.

The 24-year-old will start Wimbledon ranked No.17 – only two places off his career high – and knowing he is one of the world’s best grass-court players. His scrappy, speedy style and flat groundstrokes suit the London grass.

De Minaur’s top-16 seeding means, purely on rankings, he is favoured to progress to the fourth round again, where he is projected for a return bout with the almighty Alcaraz.

But, like seemingly everything in the Demon’s tennis life, he will still need to do it the hard way when he starts on Tuesday night (AEST) against 188th-ranked Belgian Kimmer Coppejans, a veteran qualifier who has been as high as No.97.

Alex de Minaur hopes to make a deep run at Wimbledon in the next fortnight.Credit: Getty Images

The Coppejans match-up will be as easy as it gets for de Minaur, who faces a baptism of fire if he makes it to the second round against the winner of an all-Italian stoush between 2021 finalist Matteo Berrettini and Lorenzo Sonego, who made the last 16 here two years ago.

Berrettini won his only grass-court showdown with de Minaur in straight sets in the 2021 Queen’s semi-finals, but the Australian is 3-0 head-to-head with Sonego.

If he can get past that hurdle, de Minaur’s likely opponent would be 19th seed and former world No.2 Alex Zverev, who is returning to top form after recovering from a gruesome ankle injury that ended his season in last year’s French Open semi-finals.

de Minaur is a strong grass-court performer.Credit: AP

Germany’s Zverev has won six of his seven clashes with de Minaur, but they are yet to face off on grass, or at a grand slam.

But de Minaur, Australia’s Davis Cup spearhead, typically thrives when the odds are against him, and this is his chance to prove he is a legitimate contender, like Kyrgios, at the majors.

“I felt like I played some very positive tennis throughout the whole week [at Queen’s],” de Minaur said.

“I backed myself at all stages, [and] I was in a very calm mindset. When I can have that mindset; it’s when I bring up my best tennis.”

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