Nick Kyrgios injury return in sight, say tournament organisers
To put it nicely, Nick Kyrgios is a bit of a mercurial figure. Controversy often surrounds him and his name is often in the headlines. Kyrgios has recently tried his hand at being a tennis commentator, and just this week, news stories about him squashing his beef with Canadian rapper Drake dominated international tennis headlines.
Despite his popularity in the papers and tabloids, there is rarely ever news about his potential return from injury. This has led to speculation from everyone in the tennis world about when we might see Kyrgios on the court again. This most recent batch of speculation comes from the directors of the Brisbane International and Australian Open tournaments.
Following the announcement of the recently relaunched Brisbane International tournament, Cam Pearson, the tournament’s director, revealed “There's been a lot of conversations to see whether or not [Kyrgios]’ll be ready in time for January.” Pearson described the current situation as a “wait and see” situation.
Prior to Pearson’s comments, Australian Open tournament boss, Craig Tiley, also talked up Kyrgios’ potential return for the 2024 tennis season. However, Tiley struck a more confident tone than Pearson.
“I personally believe in the communication that he's motivated to come back and play in January,” said Tiley in August ahead of the 2024 Australian Open rollout. “He loves playing here ... in front of his crowd. He knows everyone wants him to play. The one thing great about Nick, [is] he's very transparent and very open about what he's feeling and what he thinks,” Tiley went on to say about Kyrgios’ return.
Kyrgios’ long road back
Whether Kyrgios actually does come back in time for the Brisbane International in late December or the Australian Open in January is obviously still up in the air. What is clear is that Kyrgios’ journey back from injury has been a very long one.
The controversial Australian has played just one match since he was forced to withdraw from the quarter-final of the Japan Open in October 2022. Kyrgios left that match with a knee injury. This injury required surgery to address it and has continued to plague Kyrgios over the past 12 months.
The 28-year-old has also suffered from a wrist injury, which caused him to pull out of the 2023 Wimbledon tournament.
Brisbane International and Australian Open preview
Even though Nick Kyrgios is not confirmed to play at the Australian Open many sports betting sites are offering bets on him to win the men’s tournament. In fact, PlayUp currently has Kyrgios as fourth favourite to win the Australian Open with $10.00 odds.
Novak Djokovic is the current tournament favourite with $2.05 odds. PlayUp has Carlos Alcaraz next at $3.10, followed closely by Russia’s Daniil Medvedev with $6.00 odds.
