The 28-year-old,who will meet last year’s quarter-finalist David Goffin,of Belgium,on Monday evening (AEST),said he would not be putting unrealistic expectations on himself and even added he was “almost dreading” a return to competitive tennis after his setback.
“I feel as good as I probably could feel at the moment,” Krygios,wearing a Boston Celtics cap,told reporters at the All-England tennis club. “My body is feeling OK … I have worked extremely hard to play,and[I’m] super-excited to see how it goes.
“I’ve been trying to emulate a little bit of the match kind of load that I’m going to be having. Obviously,you can’t do that with a grand slam,” he said,recalling that his first-round match last year went for four hours.
“I’ve been doing as much as you possibly can a couple days before Wimbledon. You don’t want to over-push it either.”
It was the first time Kyrgios had faced the media since pulling out of warm-up events in Halle and Mallorca. He had an hour-long training hit with fellow Australian Jordan Thompson on Saturday and appeared in good spirits on court five.
The All-England club holds a special place for Kyrgios,who announced himself on the world stage as a 19-year-old in 2014 when he downed then-world No.1 Rafael Nadal on his way to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.