According to Dzevad Mesic of Tennis World, Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has decided to withdraw from the French Open. The 25-year-old native of Canberra does not feel as comfortable on clay compared to hard court or grass.
It should be noted that Kyrgios has not participated at The French Open since 2017. In that time period, Kyrgios has missed five grand slam events overall. The other major he missed was the 2020 U.S. Open. The reason for Kyrgios’s absence there was not due to the surface, but coronavirus.
One must realize that Kyrgios has had respectable performances at the French Open in the past. In 2015, and again in 2016, he reached the third round.
Also, Kyrgios’s first career ATP Final was also on clay. At the 2015 Estoril Open in Portugal, Kyrgios made the final two before losing to Richard Gasquet of France, 6-3, 6-2. Of the six ATP events that Kyrgios has won in the past, all have been on hard court.
Currently, Kyrgios is ranked 57th in the world. He is also the third highest-ranked Australian in men’s tennis. Alex de Minaur of Sydney is seeded 25th and John Millman is seeded 44th.
Rod Laver was the last Australian man to win the French Open in 1969. That was a famous year in men’s tennis as it was the last year a men’s player won all four majors in the same year. Since Laver won all four grand slams in one year in 1969, Margaret Court of Australia accomplished the feat in 1970, and so did Steffi Graf of West Germany in 1988.
