‘I miss them’: Nick Kyrgios details tennis comeback plan as he makes surprise admission

Nick Kyrgios is in London as part of BBC and ESPN’s Wimbledon coverage but his attention has already begun to shift to his return to the court. The 2022 Wimbledon finalist withdrew from last year’s Championships on the eve of the tournament citing a wrist complaint and underwent surgery in Adelaide last September to fix the issue.

Kyrgios was originally hoping he would be back competing at Wimbledon but after a nightmare 12 months, where he only managed a single match at the ATP level, he was unable to get his body right in time. But the Aussie will still be on deck for the grand slam as part of the Wimbledon commentary team and says he will be back competing next month.

With his return edging closer, the tennis star says away from media obligations at Wimbledon he is eager to track down some old rivals for practice. Kyrgios is planning to play in the fast-paced Ultimate Tennis Showdown, an exhibition run by French coach Patrick Mouratoglou, in New York ahead of the US Open in late August. If Kyrgios is to get through his tennis return unscathed there is every chance he could play at the US Open.

The 28-year-old has only managed a single match this year, however, and is understood to be nervous about his return from injury. There are several examples of elite players who have struggled to find their best after wrist surgery, with 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem and 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini among those who have failed to recapture previous form after undergoing the surgery.

The Aussie, who made the final at Wimbledon in 2022 but lost to Novak Djokovic, previously admitted he probably would have walked away from tennis if he had won the tournament. But upon reflecting on whether he wants to return to tennis after his injury layoff, the Aussie star says he realised just how much he has missed competing.

“I’ve missed beating people. I miss winning. And I was winning so much in 2022 before I had to stop,” Kyrgios said in an interview with uts.live. “I want to get back out there and have that feeling and I feel that I want to give my fans one more year, or two more years, of the Nick Kyrgios experience.”

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“I missed competing, I missed hearing the crowd, my fans. Even the people that hate me, I miss them, I miss them all. I can’t wait to be back.”

Nick Kyrgios to play doubles on the ATP Tour next month

Kyrgios says he will return to the ATP Tour in doubles first before shifting his focus to singles hopefully next month and cannot wait to be back playing. “I’m back in London doing a lot of TV commentary of Wimbledon, which is exciting,” he said.

“But I’m also doing training during these two weeks. I’m trying to have some hits with the players that are here to see where my wrist is at. It’s been 10 months since my surgery, so I’ll try to work my way back onto court. I’ll be playing doubles in the next month (on the ATP Tour).

“It will be exciting. I’ll probably start there and hopefully, if everything is OK, I’ll move to singles and then I’ll see how long I’ll hang around for.”