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Alicia Molik, Todd Woodbridge and Nicole Pratt spoke with tennis.com.au ahead of Wimbledon about Nick Kyrgios and Ash Barty, perhaps our two most natural grasscourt talents.

London, UK, 3 July 2017 | Matt Trollope

When Nick Kyrgios and Ash Barty play back-to-back on No.3 Court on Monday at Wimbledon, Aussie tennis fans are seeing arguably the nation’s two most promising grasscourt talents in action.

Six years ago at the All England Club, a 15-year-old Barty stormed to the girls’ singles title and in 2013 reached the women’s doubles final with Casey Dellacqua. That same year, Kyrgios hoisted the boys’ doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis – having done so with Andrew Harris at the same event 12 months earlier – and in 2014 announced himself as a superstar with a stunning Centre Court defeat of world No.1 Rafael Nadal en route to the men’s singles quarterfinals.

At 22 and 21 respectively, Kyrgios and Barty are among the world’s brightest young talents and stand to make an impact at Wimbledon, where the grass rewards their weapons and style and boosts their confidence.

Former Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis has come on as a consultant coach for Thanasi Kokkinakis - and he's imploring the young South Australian to be more aggressive on grass.

London, UK, 3 July 2017 | Darren Walton (AAP)

Thanasi Kokkinakis has turned to Mark Philippoussis for added inspiration and grasscourt intellect in his concerted attempt to make a Wimbledon impact.

Australia’s one-time teenage prodigy returns to the All England Club – where he won the junior doubles crown in 2013 with Nick Kyrgios – as the world No.498 after a depressing near-two-year battle with injury.

But after taking down Milos Raonic, last year’s runner-up and world No.6 at the Queen’s Club lead-up event, Kokkinakis has suddenly re-emerged as a dangerous young talent to avoid, ahead of his first-round blockbuster with Juan Martin del Potro on Tuesday.

Into the Wimbledon main draw after three impressive comeback wins in qualifying, Victorian Andrew Whittington is looking to continue his improbable run.

London, UK, 2 July 2017 | AAP

He grew up idolising Mark Philippoussis and now Andrew Whittington is following in his one-time neighbour’s footsteps after gatecrashing Wimbledon with an improbable march through qualifying.

Unheard of outside tennis circles, Whittington’s succession of victories over higher-ranked rivals has propelled the 23-year-old into his second Grand Slam main draw of the year after reaching the second round in front of home fans at Melbourne Park.

“Everyone was ecstatic back home,” the world No.209 said ahead of his first-round date with Brazilian Thiago Monteiro on Monday.

Djokovic won Eastbourne today for his 2nd title of the year by defeating Monfils 6-3, 6-4. Regrettably, I couldn't watch the match but I followed live scores and watched the highlights.

I said in my last post that if he kept improving he should win the final and I think that is exactly what he did. Monfils is a talented player and to break him three times on grass in two sets is a good effort.

Judging from the highlights and the match stats Djokovic's returns and backhand is still in good shape while he made 72% of his first serves. Another thing that occured to me this week was his net game and he was 9/12 at the net vs Monfils.

Like Djokovic's game in general, his volleys are underrated. His backhand, movement, and returns are not underrated. Everyone knows those are world class. But I think his net game, serve, forehand, and touch is underrated.

You are not going to be an all-time great on grass like Djokovic without having some net skills. He has many strengths but his volleys are an important part of his game on grass especially. He has some pretty average overheads and he can look stupid at the net but when he plays well he can also play surprisingly well at the net.

An injury cloud continues to hover above Nick Kyrgios as the Australian No.1 and 20th seed prepares to kick off his Wimbledon campaign on Monday.

London, UK, 2 July 2017 | Matt Trollope

“It’s not great.”

That was how Nick Kyrgios assessed the hip ailment that has plagued him the past several weeks on tour.

The first signs of it appeared in Madrid, when he took a medical timeout for treatment in that area during a first-round win over Marcos Baghdatis.

Rafael Nadal speaks to the media before The Championships 

Q. How was your preparation in Mallorca? How do you feel about having grass courts now?
RAFAEL NADAL: It was great. I would love to be playing in Queen's, obviously. But after the last three months and after what happened in Roland Garros, we decided that for my body is better to have a slower change to the grass, no? We were practicing little bit more every day. I was lucky to have a tournament there in Mallorca. That was a big help.
I practiced since the tournament start, since Monday until Saturday. So was a good help.

Q. You like the courts?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yeah, the courts was great. We are lucky to have a great event in Mallorca. I hope the event hold on. We hope to receive the support from the government and from the people. That's the only way to have success in an event like that.

Q. It's been 15 years since somebody other than you, Roger, Novak or Andy won the men's singles at Wimbledon. Why do you think, when the other majors have been won by other players, Wimbledon is still owned by the big four?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don't know. Maybe that change this year. You never know, no?
Is true that in the other events, didn't happen very often, too. We have been winning a lot for the last 10 years. But I don't see a particular reason for that.

After coming within one match of qualifying in 2011, Arina Rodionova will make her main draw debut at Wimbledon after a stellar week at Roehampton.

London, UK, 1 July 2017 | Matt Trollope

When Arina Rodionova clinched match point against Tamara Korpatsch on Friday at Roehampton, she turned to her team and said one word: “Wow.”

The Australian’s 6-3 6-3 win over the 11th seeded German send her through to her first ever Wimbledon main draw, after coming one win away from qualifying back in 2011.

Rodionova said she’d been so focused during the match that it was almost unreal when she served out victory for the loss of just one point in the final game.

Nick Kyrgios faces the prospect of another fourth-round meeting with top-ranked Andy Murray while Ash Barty has drawn No.4 seed Elina Svitolina in round one at Wimbledon.

London, UK, 30 June 2017 | AAP

Nick Kyrgios may need to pull off tennis’s version of Mission: Impossible to win Wimbledon after being presented with an extraordinary draw at the All England Club.

Kyrgios will open his campaign against Pierre-Hugues Herbert and could potentially face a trio of Frenchman in the first week of the tournament, which starts on Monday.

Then the real trouble awaits.

Australian talent is enjoying working with Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean.

Paris, France, 31 May 2017 | Darren Walton, AAP

Conceding it is “time to knuckle down”, Nick Kyrgios has credited his new coach Sebastien Grosjean for bringing calm and positivity to the tennis court.

In his first Grand Slam outing with Grosjean in his box, Kyrgios cracked 20 aces and 40 winners to outclass Philipp Kohschreiber 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3 in an impressive start to his French Open campaign.

The youngest player since Roger Federer to progress to quarterfinals at two different Grand Slams, 22-year-old Kyrgios admits he needs a trusted mentor to help him take the next step.