Rod Laver believes that Nick Kyrgios fell short at Wimbledon because, deep down, he did not think he could win at the All England Club as the tennis great weighs in on his compatriot's resurgence.

Kyrgios defied the odds to reach the final of this year's men's singles competition in SW19, defeating No 4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on his way to the showpiece event against Novak Djokovic.

The 27-year-old took the first set of the final but failed to kick on, with his Serbian rival surging to a 3-1 win to clinch his 21st grand slam title.

Kyrgios went onto reach the quarter finals at the US Open, although he would have expected a better run, and Laver says that despite his cocksure exterior, his Wimbledon tournament was exactly what he needed for his belief.  

'Kyrgios has all the ability in the world, every shot that you could wish to make,' Laver told The Telegraph. 'He's probably one of the biggest servers in the game. He's accurate, he can play under pressure. 

'I was thrilled that he reached the final, but he didn't think he could win Wimbledon. In my mind, I said, "Hey, put in your best performance. You may surprise yourself." A month or two later, I said, "You can win some of these matches. Why don't you apply yourself, man?"

'It hit home for him, I think. He realised, "S***, I am good enough, I can do this." That was the greatest thing that happened to him. 

'Unfortunately, he said that he wanted to go back to Australia and not play in the Laver Cup. But he knows that he can play and compete now. 

'Don't walk on the court thinking, "If I get three games, that's enough." Now he's thinking, "Next year? Wimbledon? You're going to see a different player."