'The spotlight will be on him': Wally Masur says Nick Kyrgios emerges as Australian Open chance

"Everyone is hoping beyond hope that they can get through and do it," the Australian tennis great said.

Yet so few ever do.

Which makes the prospect of Nick Kyrgios following Ash Barty's footsteps to an Australian Open title seem so daunting. Well, daunting to most, but perhaps not the 27-year-old Canberran carrying the weight of a nation at Melbourne Park over the next fortnight.

Kyrgios steps onto the court among "the top three or four chances" to win the Australian Open. He would be the first homegrown winner of the men's edition since Mark Edmondson in 1976, a drought so many have wanted to break, only to fall short.

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"It's funny you know, when Ash [Barty] won Wimbledon and then she won the Aussie Open, she said 'Wimbledon was for me, the Aussie was for all of you guys'," Stan Sport's Masur told The Canberra Times amid preparations for Stan's Grand Slam Daily.

"Australian players, they feel the weight of everybody. If you look at Lleyton Hewitt, [Pat] Rafter, [Pat] Cash, they won Grand Slam titles overseas but they couldn't nail their home event. Even Sam Stosur was the same.

"Maybe the expectation of playing at home was a part of that, and that will be important for Nick."

Kyrgios is confident he can be a genuine title threat at the Australian Open, even if withdrawals from Australia's United Cup campaign and an ATP event in Adelaide mean his match practice has been limited to a playful exhibition with tournament favourite Novak Djokovic.

The public perception of the world No. 21 has swung dramatically in Kyrgios' favour following his charge to the 2022 Wimbledon final, a quarter-final run at the US Open, and an Australian Open doubles title that saw Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis - dubbed "the Special Ks" - command the attention of the public.

Now he wants to trump his previous best singles result in Melbourne, which came in the final eight in 2015. Kyrgios' road to get there starts against Russian world No.98 Roman Safiullin this week - and Masur is far from concerned about the lack of match practice.

Because Kyrgios has always looked like one of those supremely gifted players who can just turn it on at will.

"Well, he is," Masur said. "The good players can have a bit of a break and they're not really out of tune, they just find the middle. It's a hell of a skill.

"He's always been extremely popular but he was a polarising figure at times. That has certainly changed, and a big part of that was seeing him make a Grand Slam final.

"There're two things for me: Nick obviously took a precautionary move to not play the United Cup with a troublesome ankle he had to get right, but I think too, maybe it's not a bad thing given the pressure and expectation on an Australian player like Nick leading in.

"He was able to stay out of the spotlight for a while and just focus on the things he needed to focus on to play well here, and once you get here, it's on. The spotlight will be well and truly on him, the expectations will be on him.

"Maybe that slower burn over the past couple of weeks will serve him well, but I will say when he played so well at Wimbledon and had that run at the US Open ... There was 30-plus matches in that period and he was certainly on song. I don't think you can ever get away from the fact playing and winning is important."

So, about winning.

Djokovic is tipped to claim his 10th Australian Open title. Daniil Medvedev is tough to beat over five sets. Rafael Nadal has had form and injury concerns but you could never write off a champion. Stefanos Tsitsipas will be in the mix. Then there is Kyrgios - and "Nick is a chance".

"I think it's an opportunity for someone to stand up and win their first Slam," Masur said.

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