Australia's best betting sites

Kyrgios determined to play Wimbledon despite injury setback

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios
DESPITE another injury setback, Nick Kyrgios has declared himself a “100 per cent” chance to play at Wimbledon 2017.

The 22-year-old Australian retired hurt one set into his first-round match with the USA’s Donald Young at the AEGON Championships warm-up event on Monday night.

But he insisted the recurrence of his chronic hip problem would not keep him away from the year’s third Grand Slam.

“I mean, I’d play Wimbledon if I was injured pretty bad, anyway,” Kyrgios told reporters at the Queen’s Club.

“I’m here, anyway. I don’t really have time to go home or anything.

“Yeah, I will be playing, for sure.”

It was at first feared that Kyrgios had injured his knee when he took a tumble midway through the opening set.

He kept battling after receiving on-court treatment, but his discomfort was obvious and there were no surprises when he called it a day after going down 6-7 (3-7) in a tiebreaker.

“It just was a sharp pain when I fell,” said the world number 20.

“I started feeling it when I was walking, when I was landing on my serve.

“It’s exactly what I was feeling in Paris. I mean, it’s tough to play through.”

Kyrgios made no apologies for his early retirement at the Queen’s Club, insisting preparations for Wimbledon would always take priority.

“I have been playing with a sore hip for a long time,” he said.

“I felt it was painful, and it’s not really worth it.

“Obviously my main goal is to play well at Wimbledon, so I’m going to try and get it better and rehab it and hopefully it settles down.

“I’m sure it will. There is no point of playing on if I’m feeling pain in my hip.”

This latest setback comes only days after Kyrgios received pain-relieving injections in his troublesome right hip and shoulder.

He is now racing the clock to be fit in time for Wimbledon’s July 3 kick-off.

“Just went to the doctors, they gave me some anti-inflammatories,” he added.

“I’m not going to get a scan, as yet.

Crownbet $80 special

“I got the injections a couple weeks ago, and then I was in rehab for a couple of weeks and it settled down, and then on that fall I just felt sharp pain.

“So I felt pretty much everything I was feeling a month ago.

“It’s not great at the moment. But we’ll see.”

Kyrgios’ injury woes could have a significant effect on betting trends for the men’s draw at Wimbledon 2017.

The young Canberran is well-liked by punters, who have backed him into +1400 for the title at Sportsbet.com.au.

That particular online bookmaker has only four players on shorter quotes in the outright market.

One of those is Novak Djokovic (+550), whom Kyrgios has beaten twice already this season.

Another is Rafael Nadal, rated an even +500 chance after his dominant display at the French Open.

Roger Federer opted to skip Roland Garros, yet the 2017 Australian Open champion holds the top line at +275.

The Swiss superstar shares that mark with world number one Andy Murray, who has come in for some unprovoked criticism of late.

John McEnroe said in a recent interview that the world number one was “a distant fourth” behind contemporary rivals Djokovic, Federer and Nadal.

While Murray admitted he may have some catching up to do in terms of career Grand Slam success, he refused to concede that he was unworthy of his top ranking.

“Within tennis, a lot of people just go ‘oh that guy was a better player because he won more Grand Slams than that one or that woman was better because she won more Grand Slams’,” the Scot told reporters on Sunday.

“If that’s the case then what is the point in all of us being here today? Why is everyone here covering this event?

“There are other tournaments outside the slams as well.

“If you look at the titles and everything those guys have won, I can’t compare myself to them.

“There’s maybe one or two things that I have done that they won’t have but for the most part I would have been fourth.

“But it’s not true of the last year because I’m ranked number one in the world.

“I’ve been better than them for the last 12 months, that’s how the ranking systems work.”

2017 Wimbledon outright betting

Markets provided by Sportsbet.com.au

Men’s singles

+275 – Roger Federer, Andy Murray

+500 – Rafael Nadal

+550 – Novak Djokovic

+1400 – Nick Kyrgios, Milos Raonic

+2200 – Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev

+2500 – Grigor Dimitrov

+3300 – Juan Martin del Potro, Dominic Thiem

+4000 – Marin Cilic

+5000 – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

+6600 – Kei Nishikori

+10000 – Tomas Berdych, Gilles Muller, Jack Sock

(More quoted)

Women’s singles

+600 – Karolina Pliskova

+750 – Johanna Konta

+800 – Petra Kvitova

+1100 – Garbine Muguruza

+1200 – Victoria Azarenka

+1400 – Angelique Kerber

+1600 – Simona Halep, Venus Williams

+1800 – Madison Keys, Jelena Ostapenko

+2200 – Coco Vandeweghe

+2500 – Elina Svitolina

+3000 – Kristina Mladenovic

+3300 – Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki

(More quoted)