Kyrgios ready to compete again, eyes strong start in Brisbane
Nick Kyrgios is excited for his return to professional tennis this week, with the Australian competing in his first ATP Tour tournament since June 2023 at the Brisbane International.
The 29-year-old has suffered a plethora of injury issues the past two years, with knee, wrist and ankle injuries keeping him sidelined.
However, prior to his extended injury layoff, the mercurial player had found the form of his life, making the Wimbledon final and US Open quarter-finals in 2022.
“I’m really excited to just go out there and play, just play tennis,” he said.
“I’m obviously a little bit, I don’t know if I’d call it nervous.
“When I was hitting on stadium, playing [Reilly Opelka] that’s also had a couple injuries, I guess we just reflected.
“It was surreal to be back out there. I took it all in.
“Where I was at 18 months ago, and I had the wrist surgery.
“It’s been about 16 months.
“I honestly never thought I’d be back playing at this level.
“Even entering an event like this, preparing, doing all the right things.”
Kyrgios begins the year unranked, having previously made it as high as No.13 in the world.
However, tennis betting sites give him an outside shot at making a deep run at the Australian Open in January, despite his prolonged absence from the game.
PlayUp puts the Australian on $41 to win the year’s first Grand Slam, the seventh line of betting.
He has an even stronger chance of winning the Brisbane International, where he is set to play Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in his opening match.
Kyrgios is at $23 to claim the title across most top bookmakers, and $1.90 to beat Mpetshi Perricard in the first round.
Former world No.1 Novak Djokovic is the heavy title favourite in Brisbane, returning just $1.83 to claim his 100th ATP Tour title.
While Djokovic and Kyrgios are rivals in the singles draw, they will be on the same side of the net in the doubles event.
“He kept messaging me over and over again,” Kyrgios joked of his partnership with Djokovic.
“I was just like, I’ll give him a little handout and give him the pleasure of playing doubles with me.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun.
“Look, kid from Canberra gets to play with the greatest of all time in his hometown in front of the fans is pretty special.
“It’s something that I’m able to tell people when it’s all said and done that I played doubles with him.
“It’s pretty special.”
