"He could win a grand slam" - Mats Wilander believes Nick Kyrgios' 2022 performance will encourage the Aussie to reach his full potential
ATP
Seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander called Nick Kyrgios's incredible 2022 season a 'Cinderella Story' that he was waiting to happen.
The Aussie showcased some of the best tennis of his career, reaching his maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, losing to Novak Djokovic, and winning his first major in doubles at the Australian Open. He also ended the year inside the Top 30 in singles for the first time since 2017.
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While speaking to Clay, Wilander revealed that he finds Kyrgios to be the most 'encouraging' and 'surprising' to watch.
"Brilliant to me. He is the most surprising and the most encouraging for me to watch," said the Swede. "I don’t know if he will win a grand slam but he might. You know what? He could win a grand slam and he has sort of decided that he is going to give himself a shot to reach his potential. To me, it’s just encouraging that our game is helping athletes and people on a path that becomes healthier along the way."
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Wilander pointed out that Kyrgios would be encouraged by his results in 2022 to work harder in the coming years.
"He is gonna be more encouraged by his own improvements to work harder, be more disciplined, whatever. So for me, it’s a Cinderella story that I was hoping is going to happen and it’s happening," he said.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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