Nick Kyrgios previously confirmed his participation for the 2025 Australian Open, but he will also compete at another tournament on home soil before that.
Kyrgios has only played one ATP match in the last two years. That was a failed comeback attempt for the 2023 Wimbledon Championships at the Stuttgart Open. He lost in straight sets to Yibing Wu.
Aside from that one defeat, severe wrist and ankle injuries have kept Kyrgios out for over two years. At the time, he was enjoying the best season of his career, most notably reaching the 2022 Wimbledon final.
The 29-year-old has stayed in the spotlight by working as a television pundit and commentator, as well as offering his insights into various issues on social media and podcasts.
It is impossible to know for certain whether Kyrgios will remain as controversial a figure when he returns to the sport, but some of his comments while injured might indicate he will not change much.
Kyrgios generated some attention with some comments he made on a recent episode of the Louis Theroux Podcast. One notable moment was the Australian discussing a controversial incident involving Stan Wawrinka.
At the 2015 Canadian Open, Kyrgios made an outrageous sledge about Thanasi Kokkinkais having relations with Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic, Wawrinka's girlfriend at the time.
Kyrgios' exact quote was 'Kokkinakis ba**ed your girlfriend, sorry to tell you that mate." He was roundly condemned and apologized at the time when he received a fine for his actions.
However, Kyrgios spoke less regretfully about the incident on the Louis Theroux podcast, referring to it as 'good old-fashioned trash talk' that he did not believe to be bad for the sport.
The Wimbledon runner-up also offered his insights into other matters on the same podcast, claiming the Egyptian pyramids were not built by humans and expressing an openness to the earth being flat. All evidence points to the opposite being true in both cases.
Those examples might point to Kyrgios remaining unique personality when he returns to tennis. He will try to find some form before the Australian Open by playing at the Brisbane International, which takes place in the opening week of the 2025 season.
The Brisbane International's social media pages confirmed the move by sharing a brief video of the home favorite and writing, "Welcome BACK, Nick Kyrgios." His appearance will undoubtedly draw more focus to the event.
Kyrgios expressed excitement about returning to the court during an appearance on 9News. The two-time Citi Open champion said he is feeling better than any time in the last two years and cannot wait to be back playing on the ATP Tour.
"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."