Kyrgios Calls His Comeback 'Miracle' After Being Given '15% Chance'

Wednesday, 13 November 2024 at 06:00

byErik Virostko

Nick Kyrgios will soon return to the tennis courts and everything points towards a successful comeback.

Kyrgios hasn't played a lot in recent years. His last (almost) full year on the ATP Tour was the 2022 season. He ended that season with 37 wins in 47 matches, and he was one of the best players that year.

That was certainly proven by his win in doubles at the Australian Open and his run into the singles final at the Wimbledon Championships. On top of that, he also won the title at Citi Open in Washington.

Since then, Kyrgios has played only one official match. It came at the 2023 Stuttgart Open, and he lost to Yibing Wu in the first round of the tournament.

The 29-year-old has struggled with a wrist injury, and according to everything that he said, it was possible that he would never return to the sport. Still, he has appeared on the tennis courts this year already.

Kyrgios competed at the 2024 Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) in New York, surprisingly dominating against Casper Ruud. The Australian completely outplayed his opponent, and it seemed that he could be back.

Unfortunately, that win was followed by a withdrawal from his next match, which meant that Kyrgios' official comeback was once again postponed, with the likely return event being the 2025 Australian Open.

He confirmed that event as his return tournament in the meantime, and now, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist talked to 9News Melbourne about his injury and the prognosis he was given, as there was only a 15% chance that he would return according to his words.

"Honestly, this is probably the best I've felt in two years. I played that amazing year in 2022. Then at the finals in Wimbledon and US Open that's when I started feeling some issues in my wrist. I had that wrist reconstruction and now I'm feeling amazing."

"It was a 15 miracle per cent chance that I was going to get back to playing at this level and here we are. To get back out there in front of the home fans is going to be sick."

The Australian player detailed his comeback journey, saying that it was brutal. However, he made a promise to himself that he wouldn't give up because he wanted to leave the sport on his own terms.

"Physically, it was brutal. Mentally, I wasn't going to allow myself [to give up]. I always have wanted to leave the game of tennis myself. I wasn't going to let this injury be the dictator of if I would ever play again."

Kyrgios also explained that early on, he didn't feel any improvement. He started by using the tennis balls used by kids for practice. Those balls are much lighter and are ideal for tennis players returning from wrist surgery.

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In the past, Emma Raducanu used a similar approach when returning from her wrist surgery, and it seemingly worked for Kyrgios as well.

"I honestly didn't feel improvement in my wrist. I started hitting fluffy balls that under-10s used to learn on. I had to teach my right wrist all over again."

Regardless of how many matches he manages to win on his comeback, Kyrgios already feels like a winner, as making this comeback might have seemed impossible in his eyes.

"I've already won in my eyes. Now everything I do on the tennis court whether I win a match or a tournament or anything like that is going to be a bonus."