Nick Kyrgios has not been total idle since his second-round loss at the 2017 Australian Open. Since crashing out of Melbourne Park to Andreas Seppi in a meltdown match, the Aussie has played for his country in Davis Cup play. He is now seeded third in the ATP Marseille event, a 250-level tournament that will played in France over the next week.
Kyrgios is the third favorite
As the third seed in the event, Kyrgios will receive a bye into the second round. His first match will either be against Andrey Kuznetsov or Malek Jaziri. Both players have shown that they have what it takes to do some damage at the 250-level on the ATP Tour.
Kyrgios also shares a path to the final in Marseille with Alexander Zverev, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gilles Simon, and others. Tsonga, who won ATP Rotterdam on Sunday, is the outright favorite in Marseille while Kyrgios enters the tournament as the third favorite (source: Stan James).
The Australian would be well served with a title at this point in his season and career. His start to the 2017 campaign was expected to include a deep run at Melbourne Park. However, his meltdown against Seppi ended all talk of that and revitalized talk about the Aussie not being 100% mentally equipped to really make it on the ATP's tennis tour. Winning Marseille won't do all that much to squash that talk since it's a low-tiered tournament, however at least the headlines with Kyrgios would then be positive for at least a bit.
Kyrgios' draw will be tough
Kyrgios will have to give his second-round opponent his full attention, whether it's Jaziri or Kuznetsov. However, the Aussie will almost certainly be favored to win that match. That said, the same can't be said about Kyrgios' chances if he does in fact play Zverev in the Marseille quarterfinals.
Zverev has enjoyed a stellar start to the season and he appears to be a stronger player than Kyrgios.
The German did better at the Australian Open, losing in the third round to eventual runnerup Rafael Nadal. For the teenager, it was not a mental breakdown that eliminated him from the draw but the persistence and arguably better conditioning of his opponent. Since the Aussie, Zverev has not been idle with his major highlight a tour title a couple weeks ago in Montpellier.
A quarterfinal showdown between Kyrgios and Zverev would surely be interesting to watch. They are similarly ranked and similarly aged and in time a rivalry between the two players may develop. If Tsonga is fatigued following his Rotterdam run then the winner of a Kyrgios/Zverev quarter may very well claim the championship in Marseille next weekend.
