Young guns race against time for Wimbledon
Australiaâs Wimbledon stocks have taken a hit as seeded spearheads Bernard Tomic and Nick Kyrgios race the clock to be fully fit for the tennis showpiece starting in less than a month.
Kyrgios and Tomic, along with several of their exciting young support cast, departed the French Open set for career-high world rankings after encouraging campaigns in Paris.
But a shattered Kyrgios is considering withdrawing from Wimbledon lead-up events next week at âs-Hertogenbosch and then the Queenâs Club after a chronic elbow injury flared in his third-round loss to Andy Murray.
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Tomic plans to press ahead with scheduled appearances next week in Stuttgart and Halle from June 15, but requires cortisone injections for a back problem thatâs restricting his movement.
Tomic, a quarter-finalist in 2011, and Kyrgios, who reached the last eight at the All England Club last year, are projected to climb to 24th and 25th respectively in the rankings next week.
Unlike the other three grand slam events in Melbourne, Paris and New York, Wimbledon officials donât strictly abide by rankings when allocating their seedings and Tomic is hoping he and Kyrgios are elevated because of their proven records on the hallowed grass courts.
Critically, a top-24 seeding would guarantee Australiaâs two big guns donât run into any of the top eight, including titleholder Novak Djokovic and fellow former champions Roger Federer, Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal, until at least the round of 16.
But the duoâs more immediate concern is being fully fit and ready to go when the grasscourt major gets underway on June 29.
âI donât know what I have to do at the moment. I donât know what the problem is,â Kyrgios said after being unable to serve anywhere near full speed during his straight-sets loss to Murray at Roland Garros.
âI have done so much (remedial and rehab work) and itâs pretty heartbreaking going out there and something like that holding you back.
âBut I will do everything I can obviously to get ready for Wimbledon. Thatâs the next big one. I think thatâs my best chance to win a grand slam.â
Tomic said heâd been dogged by a back injury for months.
âI need to get a few injections in my back, which Iâve never done before,â he said after Davis Cup teammate Thanasi Kokkinakis ended his French Open in a five-set second-round thriller.
âHopefully that goes away after three or four days because I have been suffering a lot of pain, (lost) a lot of rotation, missing on my shots.â
In addition to Kyrgios and Tomicâs troubles, Daria Gavrilova, Australiaâs new No.2 ranked woman who had been pushing towards a Wimbledon seeding, has had to pull out of scheduled events in âs-Hertogenbosch and Birmingham with an abdominal strain.
The injury forced Gavrilova, set to rise to 42nd in the rankings, to quit her second-round match in Paris against Sabine Lisicki.
Australian No.1 Samantha Stosur is taking a two-week timeout in Florida after being left furious by her third-round misfire against Maria Sharapova and will contest only one Wimbledon warm-up event at Eastbourne.
â AAP
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