'Still Some Question Marks': Kyrgios' Fitness Doubtful Ahead Of Wimbledon
Nick Kyrgios will be competing at the 2023 Wimbledon but his preparation has been far from ideal and he knows it.
Having played only one match on the ATP Tour in almost nine months is far from ideal, and the Australian knows it. He certainly didn't want to enter the 2023 Wimbledon without an ideal preparation, but it's here and he has to deal with it.
According to his own words, Kyrgios doesn't have anything left to prove, and after reaching the final of the event last year, he'll try to take it one step further this time around. But that won't be easy, and it's not because of his game, but because of his injuries and rehabilitation.
Incredibly patient Kyrgios spoke about his preparation during the pre-tournament press conference, and while happy that he's able to be in the All England Club, he was really cautious when talking about his readiness.
"Yeah, obviously the best tournament in the world. Yeah, I've worked extremely hard to just even be able to prepare and try and play this tournament. So super excited to be here again and see how it goes."
"Yeah, I still think there's some question marks, for sure. I mean, obviously five-set tennis is a completely different base altogether. I look at my preparations last year coming in, I probably had the most ideal preparation possible. It couldn't be any different this year."
Kyrgios admitted that while he knows that things are not ideal, he doesn't want to discredit the work that he put in, and therefore he'll approach the tournament one match at a time, starting with the wild card David Goffin in the first round.
"Again, I'm not going to discredit the work I've put in for the last six months just trying to maintain my fitness, get back on court. I've been hitting with some really good players this week and my body is feeling okay. I'm going to take it one day at a time. I'm not going to look forward and put unfair expectations on myself. I'm just going to try to do everything I can, prepare, go out there and play some good tennis."
The 28-year-old admitted that he's been working hard during his rehabilitation process, and while the comeback date was postponed multiple times, he was doing everything possible to get back as soon as possible.
"I don't know. I guess I kind of had an outline of what needed to happen. I've been really disciplined throughout that time. I barely missed any sort of part of the process. I've been working really hard. I've been trying to do everything possible."
When talking more in detail about the preparation and rehabilitation, Kyrgios said that it may be easy for non-athletes to underestimate how difficult it is to actually get back to top level. We've seen it with Dominic Thiem, Matteo Berrettini, Sofia Kenin, and many others, and the Australian experienced it himself.
"I don't think anything went abnormal to what was supposed to happen. Yeah, I think just people forget how strenuous this sport is, how physical it is. I feel like to the outside world, people don't understand. Just because it's not contact, it's not that physical. I dare someone to go out there and play four hours with Novak and see how you feel afterwards. Yeah, look, I feel probably as good as I could feel at the moment."
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