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Top 100 beckons for Nick Kyrgios over the Australian summer

Roar Guru
1st October, 2013
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It seemed unimaginable twelve months ago, but Australian youngster Nick Kyrgios could be in the world’s top 100 by the end of the Australian summer.

As the former junior No. 1 transitions to the men’s game, the opportunities for the Aussie to compete in tournaments increase.

In the next month, Kyrgios will compete in up to five events on the ATP Challenger and ATP World Tour.

With success already on the pro circuit, Kyrgios has a platform to spring into the top 100, and he could do that by the end of the Australian summer.

Currently, Kyrgios has 254 ranking points and only has 12 of them to defend before the end of the year.

Combine that with no points to defend until the West Lakes Challenger in early February, and the young Canberra player can gain plenty of points for his ranking.

His success on the tour indicates he can certainly add a lot more points if he plays in plenty of tournaments.

In his first two tournaments on the Challenger circuit this year, Kyrgios won the Sydney Challenger and also made the semi-finals of the West Lakes event in Adelaide.

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He gained 119 points during those two events.

The Aussie then scored 50 points competing in three Chinese ITF future events, winning his first ever ITF title at the third event on Chinese soil.

Finally, he scored points at the French Open and the US Open in impressive style.

After gaining a wildcard through the injury to John Millman, Kyrgios announced his arrival with a tough three-set win over Radek Stepanek.

He then progressed through qualifying at the US Open to make the main draw of the Grand Slam event.

Overall, he scored 80 points in both of those events.

In eight tournaments that the Aussie has earned ATP points in, he has amassed 242 points total.

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Currently he has a ranking of 189 – the best among the players of his age group.

The points he has scored have come at an average of 30.25 points per tournament, which after a full complement of 18 ATP events would give the Aussie 544 ranking points.

This would be enough to give him a spot around the top 100.

Obviously stats and averages don’t earn you a ranking, and the Aussie has plenty of hard work ahead of him.

That hard work starts this week at the Sacramento Challenger event in the United States, where Kyrgios has drawn fourth seed Rajeev Ram.

If he defeats the American, he faces a qualifier or Robert Kendrick in the second round. It is a tournament the Aussie could go deep in, provided he gets past Ram in the opening round.

Kyrgios certainly has some factors in his favour for the clash – Ram has to travel from Asia to the event and is also in poor form.

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Ram has lost 11 of his last 16 matches and lost to fellow Aussie, Greg Jones, in Chinese Taipei a couple of weeks ago.

Kyrgios can certainly defeat him.

Following Sacremento, Kyrgios will play in the Challenger event in Tiburon where he’s already into the main draw courtesy of his ranking.

He then has a wildcard for the Stockholm Open before heading home to compete in the Australian challengers in Melbourne and Traralgon.

Five tournaments in five weeks is a daunting task for the young Aussie but if he can score some handy points in these events, he can be set up for the Australian summer.

Given his success in 2013 and his recent appearance in the Davis Cup, Kyrgios will be handed a wildcard into the Brisbane and Sydney ATP events.

He will also make his debut in the main draw of the Australian Open next year.

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Despite his age, Kyrgios has great composure and knows when to attack and when to be conservative at crucial times in the match.

He showed this in his Davis Cup debut in the doubles as he lifted the team and partner Guccione during the fourth set of their match.

Kyrgios was able to take the momentum away from the Polish team and help Australia win the vital set in a tiebreaker.

He also survived the barrage of the Polish pair, who attacked him and tried to expose his inexperience and weaknesses in the rubber.

It was an impressive debut by the Aussie, who showed great composure in the Davis Cup cauldron.

Kyrgios also has the right attitude and the focus to get to the top of the game.

On his social media sites he appreciates the support given to him by the fans. He also appreciates the rewards given to him by the tournament organisers.

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Finally, his game is competitive against the bigger bodies of the men’s game.

His serve already cracks the 200km/hr range, and his height brings plenty of power to both his forehand and backhand.

Where other juniors have struggled with the power aspect of the game, Kyrgios has revelled in it, even outplaying his opponents on the baseline with his aggression.

Kyrgios’ 2013 season has been unbelievable so far. If everything continues along the current path, Australia may see another tennis player in the top 100 in the not too distant future.

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