Tennis doubles great Todd Woodbridge has tipped Canberra's Nick Kyrgios to do some damage at next week's French Open, but he's far more excited by the 20-year-old's prospects at Wimbledon and believes he can be a future champion at the All England Club.
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Kyrgios will be seeded at a grand slam tournament for the first time in his career at Roland Garros next week, buoyed by recent form on clay which includes his first ATP final at the Estoril Open and a breakthrough win over Roger Federer in Madrid.
Australian Bernard Tomic will also be seeded for the French Open, the first time two Australian men have protected positions for more than a decade.
But Woodbridge was more excited by the prospects of the two Aussies on grass at Wimbledon next month, particularly Kyrgios who beat then-world No.1 Rafael Nadal last year on his way to the quarter-finals.
"I like his chances of winning at Wimbledon, not necessarily this year," Woodbridge said of Kyrgios. "At times I've heard him say 'I don't like grass', he gets a bit negative upon it. But I think that [surface is] great for him, he's got really good hands, he can adapt and move forward well, he gets a lot of free points on his serve and people are afraid of his game style on that surface.
"Nick's a great hard-courter, he's going to perform well at the Australian and US Opens too, but I always felt Wimbledon was a surface where 50 per cent of the draw don't like it and mentally go in with a negative attitude."
Tomic's
Kyrgios made his grand slam debut at the French Open, in 2013, beating former top-10 player Radek Stepanek to reach the second round. It remains his best result at Roland Garros, while he has made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and the Australian Open in the past year.
"This is the harder tournament for Bernard, I almost think the French is preparation for the grass-court season for him where he's far more at home and capable of doing lots of damage," Woodbridge said. "Nick has obviously shown his capabilities on clay by beating Federer at Madrid. That was at altitude, so that helps him because he gets more out of his serve and weapons off the ground, but Paris can be quite fast as well particularly if the weather's fine."
"You beat Nadal at Wimbledon, you beat Federer, you believe in yourself. There's a justification and confidence that comes from those victories."
