Australian great Rod Laver has backed Nick Kyrgios for more success next season after the 27-year-old reached this year’s Wimbledon final.

Laver said Kyrgios’s form in the second half of 2022 has convinced him that Kyrgios has what it takes to win a grand slam.

After losing to Novak Djokovic in his first major final, Kyrgios won the Citi Open title and went deep into the ATP Masters event in Montreal and the US Open in New York.

Laver said his countryman’s defeat to Djokovic at the All England Club was down to a lack of belief, not talent.

“Kyrgios has all the ability in the world, every shot that you could wish to make,” Laver, the only player to complete the calendar Grand Slam twice, said.

“It hit home for him, I think,” said Laver. “He realised, ‘I am good enough, I can do this’. That was the greatest thing that happened to him.”

Injury blow to Farah

London: Britain’s four times Olympic champion Mo Farah has withdrawn from his home London Marathon on Sunday after suffering a hip injury.

Organisers said on Wednesday that the six-time world champion was not fit to compete despite intensive treatment.

“I’ve been training really hard over the past few months and I’d got myself back into good shape and was feeling pretty optimistic about being able to put in a good performance,” Farah said in a statement.

“However, over the past 10 days I’ve been feeling pain and tightness in my right hip.

“I’ve had extensive physio and treatment and done everything I can to be on the start line but it hasn’t improved enough to compete on Sunday.”

Reuters