{"id":97371,"date":"2021-07-09T00:56:20","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T00:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=97371"},"modified":"2021-07-09T03:58:44","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T03:58:44","slug":"when-kyrgios-first-knew-barty-was-our-best-chance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=97371","title":{"rendered":"When Kyrgios first knew Barty was 'our best chance'"},"content":{"rendered":"

A gracious Nick Kyrgios<\/a> has voiced nothing but praise for compatriot Ash Barty, insisting his fellow Aussie is "by far our best chance of winning slams", as she prepares to contest her first Wimbledon final.<\/p>\n

Barty secured her maiden Wimbledon final berth at the All England Club with a straight-sets 6-3, 7-6 win over Germany's Angelique Kerber last night.<\/a><\/p>\n

It puts the world No.1 on track to shatter a 41-year title drought for Australia's women at Wimbledon, with Evonne Goolagong Cawley the last home-grown talent to claim the honours.<\/p>\n

The only place tennis fans can watch every Wimbledon match is on Stan Sport.<\/em><\/strong> Start a seven-day free trial of the Stan Sport add-on now!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Kyrgios, who had a dazzling spell in London before injury cruelled his campaign<\/a>, had nothing but adulation for Barty ahead of Saturday's clash against Karolina Pliskova, expressing some humbling sentiments for his peer.<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

"She's amazing. Obviously, I grew up with Ash, I played juniors with her and from the get-go, I knew how talented she was," Kyrgios told Nine's Today<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"I always knew she'd be able to do some incredibly special things in this sport and she's by far our best chance to win medals and grand slams. So, to see her in the final to have the opportunity again, it's exciting for all Australian tennis players.<\/p>\n

"I think all Aussies are behind her. She's just a heck of a player, she's just got so much variety and I think the grass suits her game as well.<\/p>\n

"Her slice on the grass and her patterns on the grass are very clean. But she's going up against a big server, and the grass does favour big serves."<\/p>\n

\"Barty\u00a0speaks\u00a0on\u00a0centre\u00a0court\u00a0after\u00a0reaching\u00a0final\"<\/p>\n

Earlier today, Kygios made the tough call to withdraw from the upcoming Tokyo Olympics with ongoing injury issues.<\/a><\/p>\n

"Hey guys, I just want to let you know that I've decided to withdraw from the Olympics. It's a decision I didn't make lightly," Kyrgios said via a statement on Twitter.<\/p>\n

"It's been my dream to represent Australia at the Olympics and I know I may never get that opportunity again. But I also know myself.<\/p>\n

"The thought of playing in front of empty stadiums just doesn't sit right with me. It never has. I also wouldn't want to take an opportunity away from a healthy Aussie athlete ready to represent the country.<\/p>\n

"I will also take all the time I need to get my body right. Good luck to all the Aussies competing and I'll see you back on the court real soon."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A gracious Nick Kyrgios has voiced nothing but praise for compatriot Ash Barty, insisting his fellow Aussie is "by far our best chance of winning […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97371"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97376,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97371\/revisions\/97376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}