Slow starting Nick Kyrgios overcomes breathing problems for Japan Open victory
Nick Kyrgios admitted he struggled with breathing difficulties despite his comfortable victory in the first round of the Japan Open.
Kyrgios, who reached the final of Wimbledon this year, saved a break point in his opening game before going on to comfortably defeat Chun-Hsin Tseng 6-3 6-1. Nevertheless, Australian’s number one revealed that he found breathing difficult as a result of the humid conditions in Tokyo.
This problem has already occurred this season with Kyrgios having to withdraw from a warmup match before the Australian Open after struggling with asthma. He also referenced to being rusty at the beginning of the match, having not played since his US Open quarter final defeat to Karen Khachanov.
”I came out a bit slow, but I don’t play many matches so it’s hard to just get straight back into that competitive flow,” Kyrgios told reporters after the match. ”But as soon as I held the first game I kind of found my form again and played really well.”
Kyrgios also noted how quickly the courts were speeding up. ”The court is obviously playing faster compared to normal hard-court events. I’m not complaining about that – I think big servers and guys who like to take the ball early and have flat backhands, it suits our game style.”
”It’s fun tennis to watch, people playing aggressive and coming to the net and serving big. I think that’s the type of tennis that fans like to see sometimes. The court’s probably faster than average, but I like it.”
Nick Kyrgios will now face Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak in the round of 16. He is also playing doubles at the event, teaming up with long term partner and friend Thansi Kokkinakis. The number one seeds easily defeated Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka and Kaichi Uchida 6-1 6-2 on Wednesday.
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