Kovacevic takes on Kyrgios, who remains positive despite defeat in Brisbane – Tennis Now
New Yorker Alexander Kovacevic handed Nick Kyrgios a win on his Brisbane international debut.
The world number 58 took just 58 minutes to defeat the Australian with a pinpoint serve. Kovacevic scored 25 of 26 points on his first serve and 15 of 21 on his second serve, and never faced a break point.
He converted his only two chances against the former Wimbledon finalist into a second-round showdown with Britain’s Cameron Norrie.
An optimistic Kyrgios, who is hoping to secure an Australian Open wildcard, took the defeat in stride.
“I feel good that I’m going to be able to try and use it as a base, which is obviously my goal, not just for AO, but this year, no matter what happens this year, I do want to continue to play as many games as possible and we’ll see, yeah,” he said.
Kyrgios talked a lot about himself, his past and the injuries that have derailed his game since his best year in 2022, but he also made sure he gave credit to his opponents.
“Credit to my opponent today. He played great. You could tell he was new to the tournament, locked in, excited, he’s a great player,” he said of the former University of Illinois standout.
“You know, he’s definitely going to be one to watch. He obviously had a breakout year last year and he’s going to continue to have big wins. I also want to give credit to my opponent. It’s not like he’s playing like shit or anything.”
Kyrgios, ranked 670th, hopes to keep working hard to build some momentum. He intends to compete in as many games as possible in 2026.
“I haven’t played a lot of games, so that makes it tough as well. The energy, the game energy is different. Yeah, man, it’s tough,” he said.
“As of right now, I’m exactly where I really want to be. You know, obviously the outcome is, I can’t win them all. Now, I can take the losses and move on and just build, go out there and play more games. Can’t take these moments for granted.”
