“Be patient with me” – Kyrgios urges fans to give him time following his defeat on return from injury

Nick Kyrgios has urged his fans to be patient, following a straight sets loss to Yibing Wu at the Stuttgart Open this week.

It was the former world No. 13’s first match since October after undergoing surgery on his knee which has kept him away from the sport all year.

Kyrgios also suffered a minor foot injury when responding to the theft of his car, which delayed his comeback by a few weeks and meant he could participate at Roland-Garros.

Writing on Twitter, the Australian appealed for patience for fans as he continues to build some kind of form and match fitness ahead of Wimbledon.

“Be patient with me my fans please…. It’s a process to get back to where I was. I know it’s hard for you to see me perform like today, but I need more time and hopefully can get back to where I was.”

Be patient with me my fans please…. It’s a process to get back to where I was. I know it’s hard for you to see me perform like today, but I need more time and hopefully can get back to where I was.

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) June 13, 2023

Kyrgios reached the final of Wimbledon last year, losing out to Novak Djokovic in four sets, in what was a superb summer for the Aussie.

However, his chances to build on that success at the beginning of this year were ruined by need for knee surgery, which kept him from competing in his home major at the Australian Open and kept him away from the match court ever since.

However, following a successful rehabilitation period, Kyrgios is now back on court and looked to be in decent shape against a talented opponent in Stuttgart, despite the loss.

He will next turn his attention to the tournament in Halle, Germany, as he continues to build his form fitness ahead of Wimbledon.

It will be a tall order for the Aussie to repeat his run to the final of last year, but for someone who is used to spending large periods of time away from the game, he may be better-conditioned than most to have a good tournament without much match practice.

Following Wimbledon, Kyrgios will participate in this summer’s highly-anticipated UTS event in Los Angeles.