World No 8 is coming off a career-best year as pressure mounts to become the first homegrown Australian Open men’s singles champion since 1976
Playing at home in front of a home crowd can go one of two ways. For some, it’s an inspiration, they play their best tennis at the most important moments. For others, it can be crippling, the tension ripping through their body and stopping them from playing the way they so dearly want to.
Think Sam Stosur, the Australian who won the US Open in sensational style in 2011, beating Serena Williams in the final, but for whom the expectations at Melbourne Park were simply too stressful. For all his talent, Nick Kyrgios’s best run in Melbourne is a quarter-final effort in 2015. Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo made one quarter-final at Roland-Garros but triumphed in Australia and at Wimbledon.
