Nick Kyrgios saw his tennis retirement flash right in his eyes now that details of his debilitating wrist injury had come to light, only to pull off a miraculous recovery.
Kyrgios, a polarizing figure in tennis, has spent the last one and half years in the treatment room, first because of a knee injury and then a wrist condition that left him unable to open doors and jars.
Since the start of the 2023 season, he has played just one match, which resulted in a straight-sets loss to Yibing Wu in Stuttgart. Since then, Kyrgios has chosen to cultivate his love for podcasting and commentary.
The Australian tennis star launched his own podcast, Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios, in which he speaks with sporting and non-sporting individuals who thrive by doing things on their own terms.
The 29-year-old has also worked as a tennis analyst and match commentator with Tennis Channel and Eurosport at tournaments such as the ATP Finals and the Australian Open.
As Kyrgios prepares to make his long-awaited tennis return on the hard courts of North America, presumably in late July, his comeback journey will serve as an inspiration because he says many people have written him off.
"This has been a really challenging time - the hardest of my career. People aren't expecting me to come back, especially after an injury like this, so I would love to do that and play again.
It highlights the former Wimbledon finalist's desire to play the sport again, contrary to the general consensus that he doesn't care about his professional career. Kyrgios revealed that the whole process has been brutal but a "surreal" experience now that he is hitting tennis balls.
"The process has honestly been brutal. The surgery was almost 10 months ago and it's not a very common injury, so we are experimenting how much we can push it. No-one has really come back from an injury like this before. To now, being back on court, it's pretty surreal."
Kyrgios was suffering from scapholunate ligament damage on his wrist, which is rare in tennis, according to Dr. Michael Sandow. Considered one of the best surgeons in the world, even Sandow, who operated on Kyrgios' injured wrist, was surprised by the results.
"He had very nasty wrist instability with a tear that can create significant wrist bone collapse and leads inevitably to arthritis.He was quite disabled when I first saw him. All he wanted to do was feed himself and do light activities, and the Anatomical front and back (ANAFAB) reconstruction was to be the solution."
"Nick's now playing tennis again. If you talk to anyone in the wrist specialist world they would be quite amazed. You just don't get these results."