Nick Kyrgios sends a message to two players

11/19/2024 05:00 PM

Nick Kyrgios has been out of action for almost two years and many speculated that his retirement was now imminent. 2022 had been one of the best years of his career, having reached the final at the Wimbledon Championships (lost to Novak Djokovic in four sets) and seemed to have finally worked on his body.

The Australian ace was motivated to win a big title before his retirement, but in the last two seasons he has only played one official match. The champion from Canberra has had numerous injuries and he himself admitted that he did not know if he would return to play on the professional tour.

Recently, the news broke that Nick will play the Brisbane ATP 250 early next year. Kyrgios is a very spectacular player and his shots are different from those of other tennis players, which is why the news of his return to the court is great for fans around the world.

After almost two years of absence, it will not be easy for Nick to return to the highest level and compete against the current top players. Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz have improved further compared to 2022, while Kyrgios will need some time to get back to his best.

As mentioned, the men's tour has changed a lot in the last couple of years and there has been a changing of the guard. Novak Djokovic will be the only ‘survivor’ of the 'Fab Four' still active in 2025, while the tour is now dominated by Sinner and Alcaraz.

In a recent interview, the Australian ace revealed the two opponents he would like to face next year: “I have a couple of answers there. The tennis world right now is definitely the changing of the guard. We understand that Rafa and Fed are not there any more and you could comfortably say it’s the back end of Novak’s career now.

It’s open but you have the likes of Alcaraz, Holger Rune, Jannik Sinner. These guys that are vying for that next mantle.

I would love to play Jannik Sinner at some stage. Hopefully not my first match back! I doubt he will play Brisbane. But that is probably the one which would be circled on my calendar.

And it’s always fun playing Tsitsipas. I think we all know that is a very healthy one for the tennis world.”

Before the start of the 2025 season, Kyrgios will be one of the protagonists of the 'World Tennis League', the third edition of which will take place in Abu Dhabi from 19 to 22 December. The champion from Canberra will use this performance to find the right feelings and show up in good shape in Brisbane.

If he plays his best tennis, a player like Nick can still be dangerous because his game is unpredictable and different from that of all the other tennis players. His serve is really amazing, perhaps the best on the entire ATP tour, and his accelerations from baseline are truly monstrous.

On the latest edition of ‘The AO Show’, Kyrgios revealed the advice he would give to his younger self: "I would probably say not to take criticism too hard at that time. I was an emotional kid and I was a sensory person, like, I took comments very personally. So, I would tell myself maybe not to take the criticism so hard because it really, it really affected me. I'd probably say, 'Just continue to be that showman that you have inside you.' I didn't realise I was going to send such shockwaves through the tennis world, I guess. I was 18, I had no idea that I was able to do that. I was a kid from Canberra, still in school. I'd say just don't take criticism too hard.”

Despite not playing for a long time, the Australian was the center of attention for harshly attacking world number 1 Sinner when the doping case was made public. Nick has never believed the version of events provided by the Italian ace and has always maintained that Jannik deserves a very long disqualification. The 2-time Grand Slam champion has never wanted to respond to the Australian player, but fans would love to see a clash between this two on court.

The Australian Open and the Wimbledon Championships are certainly the two tournaments in which Kyrgios has the best chance of achieving a huge result in the latter part of his career. In Australia, he can benefit from the support of his fans, while in London there is the ideal surface for his game.