The world No 48 was beaten in five sets by Dominic Thiem having taken a 2-0 lead at the John Cain Arena before succumbing to the third seeded Austrian.
Still, the Australian home hope put on a great show for the home fans and ignited hopes that he can have a strong 2021.
Despite his immense talents, Kyrgios has never got past the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam – doing so at Wimbledon in 2014 and the Australian Open in 2015 – and only has six singles titles to his name.
Yet six-time Grand Slam champion Boris Becker is confident Kyrgios is capable of winning at Wimbledon in the future.
No player other than Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Andy Murray has won at SW19 since Kyrgios’ fellow Aussie Lleyton Hewitt did so in 2002.
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The All England Club-based major was cancelled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic but should go ahead this year.
Djokovic won in both 2018 and 2019 and after moving on to 18 Slams, two behind both Federer and Nadal, with his victory over Daniil Medvedev in Melbourne, he will hope to add another grass-court major to his cabinet.
Yet Becker reckons Kyrgios is a real threat to the Serbian, saying to EssentiallySports: “Nick Kyrgios and I have had our differences but I have to say I was impressed with on-court attitude at this tournament.
“His five-setter with Dominic Thiem was among the matches of the fortnight.
“I have always thought that he should win Wimbledon at least once with the huge talent at his disposal.
“With that serve and his quick game, there is so much that he could achieve. Whether he does that is going to be down to one person – Nick himself.”
Only eight-time champion Federer and seven-time Wimbledon winner Pete Sampras have been more successful than Djokovic at the English major in tennis’ Open Era.
The world No 1 is bidding for a sixth success in London while Nadal, who could move ahead of Federer on 21 Slams by winning the French Open before then, has not emerged triumphant since 2010.
Federer, now 39, has not won at Wimbledon since 2017 having lost an iconic 2019 battle to Djokovic that lasted just shy of five hours and he may be looking to match Nadal on 21 Slams if as expected the Spaniard surpasses him by winning at Roland Garros.
Djokovic, meanwhile, has warned that he does not feel at all fatigued with the 33-year-old having won his ninth Australian Open as he chases down Federer and Nadal.
“I don’t feel like I’m old or tired or anything like that,” Djokovic said. “But I know that biologically and realistically things are different than they were 10 years ago for me.
“I have to be smarter with my schedule and peak at the right time. So the Slams are the tournaments where I want to be able to perform my best.
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“Now, after achieving the historic No 1 for the longest weeks at No 1, it’s going to be a relief for me because I’m going to focus all my attention on Slams mostly.
“When you are going for No 1 rankings, you kind of have to be playing the entire season and you have to be playing well, you have to play all the tournaments.
“My goals will adapt and will shift a little bit, which means that I will have an opportunity to adjust also my calendar which, as a father and a husband, I’m really looking forward to that.
“Roger and Rafa inspire me. That’s something that I’ve said before. I’ll say it again. I mean, I think as long as they go, I’ll go.
“I think in a way it’s, like, a race who plays tennis more, I guess, and who wins more. It’s a competition between us in all areas.
“But I think that’s the very reason why we are who we are, because we do drive each other, we motivate each other, we push each other to the limit.”