Nick Kyrgios returns to Brisbane and hopes to play the Aussie Open

BRISBANE, Australia – Nick Kyrgios says he will return to competitive tennis at the Brisbane International from December 29 after playing just one ATP Tour match in more than two years.

The 29-year-old Kyrgios has been mostly sidelined with career-threatening wrist and knee injuries since the 2022 US Open quarter-finals.

That run came six weeks after reaching the Wimbledon final, the closest he came to winning a Grand Slam singles championship before losing in four sets to Novak Djokovic.

Kyrgios also said he intended to play in the 2025 Australian Open in Melbourne and said he plans to compete in the World Tennis League exhibition event in Abu Dhabi from 19-22. December, where the mixed team also attracts players like Iga Swiatek, Casper Ruud, Aryna Sabalenka, Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev.

Kyrgios withdrew late from the 2023 Australian Open due to a knee injury that required surgery, before pulling out of the French Open later that year with a foot problem.

Winner of seven ATP Tour titles, Kyrgios subsequently tore a ligament in his wrist, which also required surgery, with his last tour match a brief return to grass in Stuttgart in June 2023.

Currently unranked, the one-time 13th-ranked player said he was excited to resume his career in front of home fans.

“Honestly, it’s probably the best I’ve felt in two years,” he told a Melbourne television station on Friday. “I played the great year in 2022. Then at the finals of Wimbledon and the US Open, that’s when I started to feel some problems in my wrist. I had that wrist reconstruction and now I feel great.”

At a later media conference in Brisbane, Krygios added: “I feel fit and healthy and I’m excited about my return to tennis… It’s been a long journey of recovery to be where I am today.”