Nick Kyrgios confirmed that his post-surgery comeback is set to be kick-started soon and he did all while simultaneously taking a shot at Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek.
In 2023, the Australian had surgery on his knee in January and played only one tournament that season. This year, the seven-time ATP champion didn’t play at all as he was recovering from wrist surgery.
After basically missing the entirety of the last two seasons, Kyrgios is slated to play at the World Tennis League – a star-studded exhibition event taking place in Abu Dhabi between December 19-22. Then, he is schedueld to officially start his comeback in the first week of the 2025 season at the Brisbane International and then also play the Australian Open.
In his latest update, the 29-year-old confirmed that he has fully recovered and cheekily remarked that he did so without using anything banned.
“Feels good getting these consecutive days training in the bank man… Wrist re construction and back out here… Blessed… Without failing any drug tests (smiling and praying emojis). Be proud Kygs doing it the right way,” Kyrgios wrote on X.
Feels good getting these consecutive days training in the bank man…. Wrist re construction and back out here… blessed………………Without failing any drug tests 🙂↕️🙏🏽 be proud kygs doing it the right way 😩😂 pic.twitter.com/J8l21lnTdI
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) December 5, 2024
Kyrgios made his feelings on Sinner, Swiatek crystal clear
From the very first moment that the news dropped of the ATP world No. 1 testing twice positive for clostebol in March, the Australian underlined that he couldn’t believe there was no suspension issued.
“Ridiculous – whether it was accidental or planned. You get tested twice with a banned (steroid) substance… You should be gone for 2 years. Your performance was enhanced. Massage cream… Yeah nice,” the former world No. 13 wrote in August.
Nick Kyrgios© Nick Kyrgios/Instagram – Fair Use
Since then, Kyrgios has been regularly taking shots at Sinner and it is not a secret that he is rooting for the WADA’s appeal in the ITIA’s ruling to be successful – that would see the two-time Grand Slam champion get suspended.
Meanwhile, when it was announced last week that Swiatek tested positive for trimetazidine (TMZ), the 2022 Wimbledon finalist initially reacted by writing: “HAHAHAHAHAHAHA”
Then, he said tennis was done as a sport: “OUR SPORT IS COOKED.”
Also, he mocked the claims by Sinner and Swiatek.
“No they both just didn’t know,” Kyrgios sarcastically responded to one X post.
When the Italian tennis star failed a doping test but avoided suspension, it didn’t take long before some started making double standard claims. And the Australian appears to believe that there may be some truth in those claims.
“The excuse that we can all use is that we didn’t know. Simply didn’t know. Professionals at the highest level of sport can now just say “we didn’t know,’” he wrote on X last week.
Back to Kyrgios’ comeback
Because he rushed his comeback from knee surgery and his body wasn’t ready, the former world No. 13 suffered a wrist injury in mid-2023. It was so bad and serious to the point where he couldn’t do basic things, such as opening a car handle and there was real fear he would never play again.
However, he was fortunate enough to be operated on by one of the top Australian wrist surgeons.
“It was a wrist reconstruction, so there was four holes drilled in my hand, and there’s a piece of string kind of holding my wrist together and my fingers looked like sausages when I got out of the surgery. I was in a cast for about 12 weeks, no movement, and I basically just had to relearn how to use my right wrist again, even just carrying grocery bags, anything was super painful. But then I started getting some real improvement at the nine-month mark… to a point where I feel like I’m playing how I was in 2022,” Kyrgios recently detailed.
During Wimbledon, the Australian practiced with Novak Djokovic, who delivered a message that sealed the deal regarding his comeback.
“I was hitting with Novak and when he said to me, ‘It doesn’t look like you’ve had surgery. And that was a big motivation to say like maybe I’m actually making some inroads and some progress into getting back because I didn’t really know. That was a big drive for me… so, if he didn’t say that, I don’t know if I would have been motivated and if I would have kept pushing on the thought, but that was definitely a big part of the journey when he said that to me,” the Australian said.
For Kyrgios, the main thing at the start of his comeback will be to avoid setbacks.
Tennis World USA