A tournament place like in Halle, with green tennis courts and out in the countryside, is not really new to the tennis player; ”At home in Australia it is also very quiet”, Kyrgios said. ”A lot of people can’t really imagine it to be like that with me”. That’s why Kyrgios, one of the most popular and attractive tennis professionals on the ATP Tour, likes HalleWestphalia, the remote countryside and the short distances on the competition grounds. “Guys, I really like it here“, the moody, but at the height of his art, genius Australian player said just after his opening victory against Daniel Altmaier.
And then he again stressed his fondness of the location of the ATP 500-grass festival, after he had defeated the World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas 5:7, 6:2 and 6:4 in the round-of-16 – in the most spectacular duel so far at the 29. TERRA WORTMANN OPEN: “We have enough tournaments with a lot of hustle around them. I like the peace and quiet here. Spending time with my girlfriend, with my team”, Kyrgios said. “They helped me to comeback against Stef. That wasn’t easy.”
The 27-year-old, born in Australia’s Capital Canberra, is experiencing a good run this tennis season. Even though only having played a few tournaments – up until Halle five – thanks to his continued strong performance he stands at number 65 of the ATP-World rankings.
In the so-called Men’s Tennis Live-Ranking, however, he is already at number 52 after his latest coup against Tsitsipas. It could get even better, according to Kyrgios, especially in the weeks of the grass season. ”I feel grass is the perfect surface for me. Perhaps I can even win already in Halle, in this fantastic atmosphere, that would be great”.
For the talented player, who occasionally fights against the officials but also against himself, there are too little grass tournaments anyway – on the surface with the greatest history in tennis. “If there were six grass touraments in Australia, I would never leave the country”, he joked after the match against Tsitsipas, which had enthused and thrilled 9.000 spectators at the OWL. There was only a small Kyrgios moment, in the second set, when he got a time violation from referee Timo Janzen due to “playing too slowly”. Kyrgios didn’t agree, sat down on the bench, talked to supervisor Hans-Jürgen Ochs, but then carried on without more ado. And he really carried on; He won the second set solidly 6:2 and then collected the Big Points in the third set to get the deciding 5:4-break. With this the place against Spain’s World No. 19 Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarterfinals on Friday was secured.
The Kyrgios guest performance is extended, much to the joy of the fans, who cheered the Australian player on and hailed him as winner. In the socials, too, there was a large echo on the victory of the fascinating entertainer. “Wherever I play, people want me to provide a show. And this is what I do”, Kyrgios said. Kyrgios has to be wide awake on Friday to dream on of the first title on grass – the Australian will also be keeping an eye on his favourite NBA-basketball team, the Boston Celtics, though, who will be playing in the small hours of the morning on Friday at 3.00 h against the Golden State Warriors in their sixth title match, at a deficit of 2:3-Defizit in the Best-of-Seven-Series. “I’m quite anxious about this match. Hopefully, it’s not all over afterwards”, Kyrgios said.
