Nick Kyrgios claims he can beat half the players in the men's draw at Wimbledon without any preparation, and tonight he'll find out whether or not Ugo Humbert is part of that 50 per cent.
Kyrgios begins his Wimbledon campaign against the 21st seed, his first tournament outside Australia in 16 months. His last match on foreign soil, in Acapulco, ended when he retired with a wrist injury, also against Humbert.
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Having only left Canberra last week, it's fair to say the 26-year-old hasn't enjoyed the ideal preparation for the year's third grand slam tournament.
It's been more than four months since Kyrgios played a tour-level match, his third round defeat at the hands of Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open, where Kyrgios gave up a two-sets to love lead.
He was forced to pull out of the Wimbledon lead-up tournaments with a sore neck.
"I feel decent after not playing a match in however long," Kyrgios said.
"Generally, I feel really good. I feel that I can beat 50 per cent of the draw on grass without much preparation. Ugo has been playing some incredible tennis. I played a lot of players and I'm tactically switched on, and he's got the game to do some special things in this sport."
Unlike Kyrgios, Humbert has been playing a full schedule, and took out the title in Halle earlier this month, a win that included victories over Alexander Zverev, Sebastian Korda, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Andrey Rublev.
But according to 22-time major champion Todd Woodbridge, Humbert would have been less than pleased at drawing Kyrgios first up.
"If there's one player in the draw that everybody would have liked to avoid in round one, no matter who they are, it's Nick," he told Wide World of Sports.
"You're going to have to play well, and Nick is going to press you, because of his serve. That's the reality of it. On grass, you need to be as sharp as possible to negate that serve.
"But Humbert has a game that's very well suited to grass. He's a flat ball striker, he's got a very good lefty serve, and all of those things work well on grass."
Kyrgios can take some measure of comfort from his last match against Humbert, in the second round of the Australian Open in February.
On that occasion he prevailed in five sets in front of a raucous crowd on John Cain Arena, saving two match points in the process. Jim Courier described the atmosphere as "the best tennis has sounded since the pandemic" while Kyrgios himself called it "one of the craziest matches ever".
He had a running battle with chair umpire Marijana Veljovic over the machine that monitors the net cord, copping a point penalty at one stage after a heated exchange.
"Nick knows he can beat Humbert, because he did it in Melbourne, but Nick was so much better prepared for that match than he is for this one tonight," Woodbridge said.
"To beat Humbert he's going to have to serve at his very best. Humbert comes off winning Halle, he's in good form, it's one of the tougher draws that Nick could have got outside one of the big stars.
"Nick's right that he probably can beat 50 per cent of the draw without preparation, but that's not going to win you the tournament. You need to be able to do that in all seven matches, and that's all about preparation and miles in the legs."
Former Australian Davis Cup star Sam Groth shares Woodbridge's concerns over Kyrgios' preparations, or lack thereof.
"The hardest thing for Nick is that he's only just gotten over there. I always thought that when I went to Europe it took about a week to adjust, so that's another thing for Nick to deal with," Groth told Wide World of Sports.
"But he's got the type of game where you just never know. Nick could win in three tie-breakers, he could win 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, or he could lose by the same margin if he comes out and his body's not up to it."
https://twitter.com/NickKyrgios/status/1409217196023287809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Humbert made the fourth round on his only previous appearance at Wimbledon, in 2019, where he lost to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. It remains the 23-year-old's best ever grand slam result.
The Frenchman has enjoyed little success in the other slams, losing in the opening round at Roland Garros four weeks ago to the Lithuanian journeyman Ričardas Berankis.
But Groth believes, despite Kyrgios' win in Melbourne, the Australian faces an uphill battle in London.
"Anytime you've beaten someone, regardless of the surface, it gives you confidence, but I think it's so different at Wimbledon, I really do," he said.
"I really felt the overseas players had a real disadvantage in Melbourne, because of the quarantine situation.
"It's going to be hard for Nick, no doubt. He has the talent, but I just think his preparation is going to be the biggest challenge for him.
"Being away from the competitive match environment for so long, it just makes it hard."
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