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Three-time Australian Open champion Mats Wilander believes Nick Kyrgios could be catapulted into a new frame of mind by his brilliance in Melbourne.
Mats Wilander has hailed the departing Nick Kyrgios for putting the fire into the Australian Open and urged him to maintain the standard that can catapult the great tennis maverick to new heights.
Wilander, a three-time champion in Melbourne, reckoned the Australian could take a lot out of his performances in coming back from the brink to beat Frenchman Ugo Humbert and then taking Dominic Thiem to five sets on Friday before succumbing.
Those two performances illuminated the event before Melbourne went into lockdown, leaving the Swede Wilander to reflect on Eurosport: "What Nick needs to take out of this week is that he's lit this tournament on fire.
"For me, these two last matches he's played against Humbert and Thiem are by far the two best matches. This gives us hope for the future (with Kyrgios)."
The 25-year-old was coming off a long break but still had the exhilarating, fearless game to go toe-to-toe with US Open champion Thiem, the world No.3.
"Hopefully, this will catapult Nick Kyrgios into a mindset which says, 'I haven't played a match in a long time but I'm good enough to play with these guys'," said Wilander, who won the Open in 1983, 1984 and 1988.
"Hopefully, he gets in there and does a bit of practising. But the shot-making skills and the decisions he makes, that's why he's so interesting to watch.
"And when he fights like this, he's one of the best players in the world- and one of our most favourite players to watch. Keep it up Nick!"
Thiem, who finally got the job done 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4, was himself hugely impressed by Kyrgios in his first taste of having to try to douse the mercurial Aussie's pyrotechnics.
"His serve is amazing. It's so accurate, tough to read. So that's why it was very, very difficult for me in the beginning," said the Austrian.
"And then if he plays great like today, on fire, you're constantly under so much pressure in your own serve because you have in the back of your head that you're not going to break him or that you're not going to get a lot of chances to break.
"So it's definitely not easy, and I'm happy that I went through that experience."
