"If I was ever gonna cause an upset at a slam I feel like this is the one," said Groth, one of just two Australians due to play on the championships' opening day. "I took a set off Roger (Federer) here last year, was the only guy to do so before the final.

"So it's a place that I feel comfortable playing, it's probably the surface that suits my game better than any other, and I probably wish I was playing 20 years ago when every tournament was on this surface! This is the place for me if I'm gonna do it, and why not do it come Monday?"

If so, it would defy the unhelpful grand slam draw Gods, who have also deserted the monster-serving Victorian in 2016. At the Australian Open, Groth played Andy Murray in the second round; he opened the French against nine-time champion Rafael Nadal. Now comes Nishikori, the former US Open finalist, who won the pair's previous match, on hardcourt, in straight sets.

"It's another tough one. Obviously it's not playing Roger or Novak (Djokovic) on grass, but Kei's a quality player, I've played him once before and he's just solid in that top eight now for a few years and it's a tough ask come round one," said Groth.

"But, again, it's my favourite surface and I'm sure there's guys who didn't want to see me as well in their part of the draw coming onto this stuff. Especially when it's green the first few days, it's not easy to return. We've seen a lot of upsets here in the last few years, especially in those early rounds."

Now with a new coach, Jordan Kerr, Groth is trying to turn around a frustrating period in which he cut short his breakthrough season to try to heal a foot injury that eventually required surgery. After his comeback in Australia did not quite go as hoped, the 28-year-old sought some match play in Asia and ended up missing two weeks as a precaution against neck soreness.

The next cut was a drastic one. It was in Korea that the Newcombe Medallist shaved his head with his beard trimmer. "I just took it off. Just got home one day, and thought my hair needed to go, (that), 'maybe that'll help my luck'. But it didn't."

Then, after the clay, there was grass. Phew. Or so it seemed. After Groth reached the third round of the Manchester Challenger and lost to eventual champion Dominic Thiem in Stuttgart, his past two tournaments have resulted in qualifying losses at both Nottingham and Queen's Club. "I'm not playing bad, I just haven't been able to build a lot of momentum, losing a lot of tight matches and not being able to really I guess build that match momentum that I've probably needed throughout the year."

There is no point worrying about the Wimbledon points defence, though, said a player who is 3-11 for the season. "I don't think it matters now; I'm 120," he shrugged. "Coming in here, no difference for me really being 120, or being 150 or being 200, you're not going to get into a slam. So coming in here for me it's just about trying to do as well as I can, and then after here it's trying to rebuild, as well, to try and get my ranking back up."

Matt Barton's is certain to get a major boost, as will his bank balance, after the 24-year-old from Sydney battled through qualifying to reach his first Wimbledon main draw with a four-set defeat of Russian Karen Khachanov. Former junior champion Luke Saville improved Australia's final, collective singles number to nine through a five set win over German Matthias Bachinger. Both will play fellow qualifiers in the first round on Tuesday.