Kyrgios tempers Wimbledon expectations with fitness still a concern

Last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios will not place any unfair expectations on himself, the Australian said on Sunday as he gears up for the Grand Slam with little preparation after a knee injury decimated the first half of his season.

The 28-year-old had surgery on his left knee earlier in the year and was beaten in his comeback match following a five-month layoff when he fell to China’s Wu Yibing in the Stuttgart Open first round last month.

He pulled out of tournaments in Halle and Mallorca and will head to the July 3-16 Championships with “some question marks” about his fitness.

“Obviously five-set tennis is a completely different base altogether,” Kyrgios told reporters. “I look at my preparations last year coming in, I probably had the most ideal preparation possible. It couldn’t be any different this year.

“Again, I’m not going to discredit the work I’ve put in for the last six months just trying to maintain my fitness, get back on court. I’ve been hitting with some really good players this week and my body is feeling okay.

“I’m going to take it one day at a time. I’m not going to look forward and put unfair expectations on myself.”

Kyrgios, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final last year, had previously played a singles match in October in Tokyo and pulled out of the Australian Open in January in the leadup to the tournament.

He missed the French Open due to a foot injury he sustained during the theft of his car.

“I would have loved to get another match under my belt before Wimbledon. My body wasn’t ready,” said 30th seed Kyrgios, who meets David Goffin in the opening round on Monday.

“I’ve been trying to emulate a little bit of the match load I’m going to be having. Obviously you can’t do that with a Grand Slam. Last year, first round I played Paul Jubb and it went for four hours.

“I’ve been doing as much as you possibly can a couple days before Wimbledon. You don’t want to over-push it either.”