Nick Kyrgios makes massive announcement amid uncertainty over future in tennis
The Aussie tennis player has endured a season from hell after an extraordinary 2022.
Nick Kyrgios has announced his plans to come back bigger and better after a season from hell, dismissing suggestions he's on the verge of walking away from professional tennis. The 28-year-old had the best year of his career in 2022, reaching the final at Wimbledon and the quarter-finals at the US Open.
However things went horribly wrong from there after he suffered a knee injury at the end of 2022. He was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open and underwent surgery, before his plans to play at Wimbledon were ruined by a wrist injury.
'INSANE': Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in all-time drama
HOW GOOD: Aussie's staggering takedown of Stan Wawrinka
He announced last week that he still isn't fit to play at the upcoming US Open, meaning he will miss all four grand slams in 2023. He has only played one match at ATP level this year - a loss in Stuttgart in the lead-up to Wimbledon - and appears to be long odds to return any time soon.
His prolonged absence and a number of recent comments have sparked speculation that Kyrgios will call it quits on his career in the very near future. But on Monday he revealed that's not on the cards just yet.
Posting a photo from a workout in the gym, Kyrgios wrote: "To my millions of fans out there, I guess we just have to be patient. Trust me, I still have some fire left in the tank, my body just needs time to recover and get back. Everything off-court is doing great. l am eyeing to come back and have a season like my last again."
Nick Kyrgios won't be playing tennis in five years' time
Speaking last month, Kyrgios said there's no chance he'll still be playing professionally in five years. "No f***ing chance. No way. Bro, there's no chance I'm playing until 33," he said at the Ultimate Tennis Showdown.
"Kyrgios playing until 33 is insane. I'm not playing until 33. Nah, I promise you, when I'm gone, you'll never see me again. The schedule is out of control. I'm getting old. 28. Yeah. But all the drinking and partying, I'm like 57."
Hours before he withdrew from Wimbledon, Kyrgios was asked whether he missed tennis during his time away. “No, I don’t miss the sport at all, to be fair," he said. "I was almost dreading coming back a little bit. But it’s my job.”
Mark Philippoussis' warning to Nick Kyrgios
Mark Philippoussis has previously warned Kyrgios about taking his rehab seriously. The Aussie great could see that he wasn't fully fit to play Wimbledon after his long match in Stuttgart.
"He's not even close to being fit, and I knew straight away he was in trouble," Philippoussis said at Wimbledon. "If he comes back too early, which we have seen, and if he's not putting in the work physically on that knee to strengthen that joint, unfortunately I'm not sure how much we're going to see him.
"You have to give yourself every opportunity to come back and if you're a big guy and get a knee issue, you better get it right before you come back because it's just going to make it worse, you're going to be out further and your career could be done. I've become a knee expert after six knee surgeries and it's something you can't mess around with. You're talking about your movement.
"My worry for him years ago was 'is he putting in the work physically?' and if he was to get that first major injury, I'm not saying it could be career-ending but it could be very dangerous if you don't put in that rehab work. I don't care how good your hands are, if you're not getting to the ball, and you're one-and-a-half, two steps slower, against any top-100, 200 player, it's going to be tough out there."
Sign up to our newsletter and score the biggest sport stories of the week.
