Nick Kyrgios is convinced he can make Wimbledon stars "look pretty ordinary" and insists he will embrace being a crowd "villain" when he starts against British wildcard Paul Jubb.
The Australian world number 45 has looked sharp on grass already this month, reaching semi-finals in Stuttgart and Halle, where his runs were ended by Andy Murray and Hubert Hurkacz respectively.
Kyrgios, who could play Queen's Club Championship runner-up Filip Krajinovic in round two at Wimbledon, expects to have only a small portion of support when he begins against 22-year-old Jubb.
That match is set for Tuesday, and Kyrgios believes he is playing well enough to win through comfortably, ahead of the more obvious tests of his game that lie ahead.
Renowned as an immensely talented firebrand, the 27-year-old would rather be remembered as a grand slam champion, but there are some major obstacles blocking his path to that objective.
"I've played top-10 players in the world this year and made them look pretty ordinary," he said.
That claim is not without merit, given Kyrgios beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in Halle, Andrey Rublev in Miami, and Casper Ruud in Indian Wells.
He is picking and choosing when he competes to allow himself plenty of time to spend with friends and family, and is determined to find a successful work-life balance.
"I know where my game's at," Kyrgios added. "I know if I'm confident and playing well, I'm able to light it up whenever I want. I've got to pick and choose, so when I play, I've got to make sure I'm having some good results and putting in my best effort.
"If I figured that out earlier in my career, maybe the narrative may have been different, but I'm proud to be where I am at the moment.
"I know if I'm serving well and playing well, I can beat anyone. I've beaten pretty much everyone in the draw before."
Kyrgios lost to Russian Daniil Medvedev in the second round of the Australian Open in January and is disappointed the world number one has been banned, along with all Russian and Belarusian players, from Wimbledon.
That position has been taken because of the Russian-led invasion of Ukraine, but Kyrgios said: "My honest opinion is I don't think it was a good idea to ban the Russian players.
"Medvedev is the best we have in our sport right now. I think whenever we have cameras on and a lot of people tuning in, you want a lot of our players to be on showcase for the sport to grow.
"I'm disappointed that they're not here. It's weird not seeing Medvedev here, because we all know what he's capable of."
Medvedev will be far away from SW19 when Kyrgios begins his campaign against Judd.
The 'bad boy' image has stuck to Kyrgios, and he has often not helped his cause, with a string of incidents of volatile behaviour in his past. He accepts the crowd will be siding with the underdog on Tuesday.
"I'm used to wearing that black hat, the villain-type role, and I've just got to embrace it," he continued.
"I'm going to go out there and just play my game. If you look at the results of the last couple of weeks, if I just stick to my guns, the results say I should win pretty easy.
"But I know that's not going to be the case, so I've got to be focused."
Auger Aliassime and Shapovalov help Canada to Davis Cup victory
Felix Auger Aliassime and Denis Shapovalov helped Canada make a winning start to their Davis Cup Finals group-stage campaign, overcoming Argentina in Manchester.
Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Shapovalov got Canada off to a flier in the opening singles match of the Group D encounter, beating Francisco Cerundolo 7-5 6-3 in one hour and 37 minutes.
Cerundolo committed 51 unforced errors in a disjointed display, giving up back-to-back breaks early in the second set as the match slipped away from him after a competitive opener.
Not to be outdone, Auger Aliassime followed up Shapovalov's victory by beating Sebastian Baez 6-3 6-3, keeping his opponent under fierce pressure throughout and converting seven of the 12 break points he forced.
Doubles specialists Maximo Gonzalez and Andres Molteni then beat Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil in three sets, but that was not enough to deny Canada victory.
Great Britain and Finland are the other two teams in Group D, with Jack Draper leading the hosts' bid to reach the knockout stages in Malaga later this year.
Murray embracing new found freedom after tennis retirement
Andy Murray expected to miss playing tennis after putting his racket down for the final time last month but said retirement has been "the complete opposite" to what he anticipated.
Murray, who won three grand slam titles across a glittering 19-year career, saw his time on the court come to an end at Roland-Garros in the Paris Olympics.
The 37-year-old competed alongside Dan Evans in the men's doubles, reaching the quarter-finals of the competition to eventual bronze medallists Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul.
Murray withdrew from Wimbledon ahead of the Games after picking up a back injury against Jordan Thompson at the Queen's Club Championship, the latest of many injury setbacks towards the latter stages of his career.
"Since I've stopped, I feel really free and have got lots of time to do whatever it is I want," Murray told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"I can dedicate time to my children and have free time to play golf or go to the gym on my own terms.
"It is really nice and I didn't expect that. I was expecting to find retirement hard and be missing tennis a lot and wanting to get back on the tennis court on tour.
"So far it has been the complete opposite to what I was thinking."
The 37-year-old won his first grand slam in 2012 at the US Open before ending Britain's 77-year wait for a men's Wimbledon champion in 2013, winning it again in 2016.
During his career, Murray played 1,001 singles matches in his career, earning his landmark victory against Alexei Popyrin in three sets at Queen's.
After his injury in W14, the Scot vowed that the 2024 Olympic Games would be where his career ended, a competition he won two gold medals in 2012 and 2016.
While there was no perfect ending in the French capital, Murray revealed he was now spending some quality time with his family.
"The thing that I always found difficult in recent years was that there was always a guilt associated with what I was doing," Murray said.
"If I was going away for a trip of like three to four weeks I would feel guilty leaving my children at home or being away from my wife for a long time with them, so missing the kids I found hard.
"But if I was at home with the kids then I was running around and spending a lot of my time on my feet after training.
"I was then thinking 'is this going to affect my training or performance the next day, should I have my feet up?' I found that stuff difficult over the last few years."
US Open: ATP's next generation pushing each other, says Sinner
After triumphing at Flushing Meadows, Jannik Sinner feels the next generation of stars on the ATP Tour push each other on.
Sinner won his second grand slam title by beating Taylor Fritz 6-3 6-4 7-5 in the US Open final on Sunday.
The Italian became the third youngest player in the Open Era to win the title at the Cincinnati Open and Flushing Meadows during the same season after Andy Roddick (2003) and John McEnroe (1981).
He is the third youngest player during the Open Era to register a minimum of 23 wins in grand slam matches during a single season, older only than Pete Sampras (23-2, 1993) and Rafael Nadal (24-2, 2008).
And while Novak Djokovic is still going strong, Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are spearheading a new generation of stars that are already living up to their potential.
"I feel like the new generation, we push each other," the world number one told ESPN after his win over 26-year-old Fritz.
"I always have players who are going to make me a better player, because there are going to be times where they beat me.
"Then you have to try to find a way how to win against certain players."
Alcaraz was among those to congratulate Sinner, with the Spaniard posting on his Instagram story after the final.
Fritz, meanwhile, became the second oldest American male in the Open Era to reach a maiden men's singles final at a grand slam, after MaliVai Washington (27 years 15 days) at Wimbledon in 1996.
He was looking to emulate Roddick's success from 2003, ending a 21-year wait for a homegrown champion at Flushing Meadows, but could not get over the line.
"There's obviously a lot of positives, and when I get some time to cool down then I'll be happy about the fact that I made it to the finals," reflected Fritz, who feels like he let fans down.
"But right now I'm pretty disappointed in just a lot of things on the court, how I played, how I hit certain shots. It sucks.
"And I'm not saying that it necessarily would have made a difference. I don't know if it would have, but I just would have liked to have played better and given myself a better chance. It's really disappointing right now.
"I feel like the fans obviously, American fans, been wanting a men's champion for a long time, and I'm pretty upset with how I played. I feel like, I don't know, I feel like I almost let a lot of people down."
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