Nick Kyrgios detailed plans for his upcoming comeback, and he has one very specific goal in mind for this part of his tennis career.
Despite not winning a singles Grand Slam title or having many ATP Tour-level titles to his name overall, it could still be argued that Kyrgios achieved a lot in his tennis career.
Competing at the height of the Big Three, the Australian player managed to beat each of them on their first meeting, and even leads the H2H against Novak Djokovic (2-1) and has three wins against Rafael Nadal.
However, despite triumphing in the doubles Grand Slam at the 2022 Australian Open with his good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis, he never managed to win a singles Grand Slam title.
Kyrgios stood in the singles Grand Slam final, though. He played in the 2022 Wimbledon Championships final against Djokovic, and despite winning the first set, the Australian player lost the match in four sets.
In recent years, he has struggled with injuries, and he's spending time away from the courts also now, mostly engaging in online debates about Jannik Sinner's doping case.
Still, Kyrgios wants to return to the sport, with the 2025 Australian Open in mind. During this comeback, he has one big goal: to win a Grand Slam title, as he revealed in an interview with Code Sports.
"I am coming back because something is keeping me around the game. I have beaten pretty much every person that has been put in front of me, made a final of a Grand Slam, won a doubles title in a Grand Slam, won multiple titles and made money."
"But I think the one thing that is now on my target is a Grand Slam. I think that will be the only thing that will shut people up at the end of the day. That'll be my deep motivation."
He doesn't want to win the major just to prove himself that he can do it; the 29-year-old also wants to prove to his haters that he's capable of performing on the biggest stage.
In addition, he believes that the public's view of his personality has shifted in recent years. While he was perceived as a bad boy early on, more people came to appreciate him in recent years, mostly during his current injury layoff, when he shared his tennis knowledge through insightful commentary.
"I guess I was branded that just because I was a bit outside the circle of what a normal tennis player is. I don't think I carry that perception with the Aussie public anymore."
Kyrgios won't be the only one hoping to make a comeback at the 2025 Australian Open. The Tennis Australia CEO and the Australian Open tournament director, Craig Tiley, recently said that he hopes for Kyrgios' comeback at the event, which would certainly boost ticket sales.
"The confidence that we get about Nick playing is in his preparation, we know he's doing more than he's done before. We know that he wants to do it. We know that he's mentally preparing to get ready to play in January. So we fully expect to see him."