Nick Kyrgios is starting to make a believer of one of his harshest critics, seven-time grand slam champion John McEnroe.
McEnroe calls world No.19 Kyrgios the most gifted player of his generation but he has slammed him at times for wasting his talent with lack of application.
As recently as the Australian Open in January, McEnroe described Kyrgios as "mentally No.200 in the world" following his first round defeat by Andreas Seppi.
But Kyrgios' path since - including two wins over Novak Djokovic and a sensational struggle against Roger Federer in Miami in what was the match of year so far, have given McEnroe cause for optimism.
"The good news is that after the Australian Open when the question marks came up again he seems to have taken steps in the right direction," McEnroe told Reuters on Tuesday.
"That match against Roger in Miami was one of the best matches I've seen all year. Tremendous."
The French Open, starting next week, is the next test of Kyrgios' 'greater maturity', especially as he has managed only five wins in four visits to the claycourt citadel so far.
"I didn't anticipate he would have a lot of success on clay but if he is able to play hard all the time, why not?" said McEnroe. "He can win majors."
There is no question that Kyrgios has the weaponry needed to win slams with his serve already regarded as one of the best in tennis by none other than Federer.
This season he has won 92 per cent of his service games, second only to American John Isner.
"He is the master of mysterious when hitting second serves," Craig O'Shannessy, the ATP's strategy analyst, says.
"Sometimes it's an 83 mph kicking mule, other times it's a 129 mph fastball that whizzes right by you for an ace. It's unreadable."
When beating Djokovic in Acapulco, Kyrgios won 75 per cent of his second serve points (15/20) against the best returner in tennis --a statistic that had O'Shannessy drooling.
"Kyrgios is not simply bending the traditional second-serve rules of our game. He is breaking them in half," he said.
All that talent counts for nothing though, unless Kyrgios channels his energy in the right direction, which is why his move to hire former French player Sebastian Grosjean as coach was met with such interest.
"I think Seb Grosjean will be good for him because he was a worker and knows how to put pressure on his players," former French star Henri Leconte.
"I doubt Nick has trained once like Seb Grosjean did throughout his career, like six hours a day!
"If Nick starts to train more and start moving better on the clay he could be a monster on this surface."
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