He’s back, and of course you can’t miss him in the jacket that people would rather wear on an expedition to the North Pole than in 30+ degree weather in the Australian summer. Nick Kyrgios walked on Friday through the catacombs of the Melbourne tennis facility, which are actually cooled to North Pole temperatures, and he confirmed that he would take part in the Australian Open again after three years: “Everything feels good,” he said at the meeting Reporters: “I’m enjoying every moment at the moment: walking through the corridors, seeing all my colleagues again in the changing room. It’s good to be back.”
There had been speculation as to whether the comeback at the Australian Open would really work out – but that’s probably part of the drama that Kyrgios loves and lives like no other tennis professional. After Kyrgios canceled his participation in a first ball-pushing match with Novak Djokovic on Thursday due to pain in his abdominal muscle, tournament director Craig Tiley was immediately asked to act as a crisis communicator. He knows that he is often considered Happy slam The titular start to the new year is all the happier for the Australians, the longer Kyrgios is there – the 2022 event will never be forgotten, when he caused a two-week long party at the facility in doubles with friend Thanasi Kokkinakis and triumphed. Tiley therefore pointed to the singles tableau with Kyrgios, to whom Briton Jacob Fearnley was drawn in the first round: He’s back.
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Kyrgios’ return serves a spectrum of emotions: rapture, worry, joy, malice, hope, anger. Only equanimity is impossible; That would be like accepting in boredom that Donald Trump is back as US President.
Kyrgios is… yes, who is he exactly? The answer to this has a lot to do with how Kyrgios feels with his presence in the viewer: felt ball genius with a high entertainment factor; talent wasters; authentic, fresh air without PR filters between brain and mouth; self-destructive egomaniac with a thirst for social media fame that is only surpassed by Elon Musk. He is all this, and he knows it too: “What I am Tennis love: You see all the emotions that someone goes through for four or five hours. It’s drama, like theater.”
So tennis not only gets one of the most exciting players back, but also a protagonist who delivers the greatest possible drama. An example: For weeks he has been railing against men’s defending champion Jannik Sinner because he considers his punishment after a positive doping test to be too lax – and recently escalated the attack on Australian tennis. The 16-year-old talent Cruz Hewitt posted a photo of himself and Sinner on the X portal after a training session together; Kyrgios fired up in the comments“I love you, Cruz, but that’s crazy,” he wrote, and: “I thought the two of us were buddies.” He punctuated the comment describing Cruz’s entry as “stupid.” Symbol, as an obvious indication of doping.
Does Kyrgios create his dramas consciously or by accident?
What’s piquant: Cruz is the son of Lleyton Hewitt; The Australian tennis legend had just nominated Kyrgios for the Davis Cup duel against Sweden at the end of the month after a five-year absence. “I don’t know whether I’ll polarize in a good or bad way if I say something,” says Kyrgios: “Sure, it hasn’t always been good throughout my career. But it caused a stir. That’s just how I’ve been since I was ten years old.”
Sometimes you get the impression that Kyrgios deliberately creates dramas; just as one had to think for years that the only reason he didn’t hone his skills with all his dedication was because then he might see that he isn’t as incredibly talented as he and many others believe. Then the year 2022: Kyrgios saw what great fun it is to win a Grand Slam – even if only in doubles – and he saw how great it feels when you get to the final in singles like at Wimbledon a few months later. He felt “incredible,” he said after the defeat against Djokovic. It looked like he had conquered the demons – He spoke about depression, drug abuse and suicidal thoughts in 2023which he had left behind – and would now like to find out how far he can go as a tennis professional.
But then: cancellation of the Australian Open 2023, after a victory in the fun duel the day before against Djokovic – which is reminiscent of the waiver in the present. This was followed by almost two years of suffering in Holger Badstuber’s spheres: first a torn meniscus, then an injury to the batting hand so severe that it threatened to end his career. Now he is back, and of course Kyrgios stylizes it into the greatest possible heroic saga: “It would be a miracle if the wrist could withstand the rigors of a Grand Slam. The only reason for this return: to inspire my compatriots and try to win a Grand Slam.”
Wait a minute: Kyrgios doesn’t really believe he can triumph at this Australian Open – does he? “I believe that I am the best tennis player in the world,” he says – and immediately adds: “Is this assessment realistic? Probably not, but I think so. In my first games against Djokovic, Federer and Nadal, was it realistic to believe that I could beat them? No. But if I hadn’t done that, I probably wouldn’t have won against all three.”
The more realistic forecast: Kyrgios uses the best-of-five singles games to electrify his compatriots – and then tries to repeat the party from 2022 in the best-of-three doubles with Kokkinakis, which is much less strenuous on the wrist. Of course, that doesn’t mean that anyone should underestimate him individually; Possible opponent in the third round, by the way: Alexander Zverev. Kyrgios would like nothing better than to deliver an epic drama against the number two seed, electrify his compatriots and win in the end.
Is that realistic? No. Does he believe in it? But certainly.
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