Kyrgios admits to doubts about comeback with “throbbing pain” in wrist after Brisbane singles loss

For Nick Kyrgios, tennis right now is about seeing how the right wrist that required surgery in September 2023 holds up, day in day out.

The Australian played his first ATP Tour match in 18 months in Brisbane on Tuesday, performing well in a 7-6 (2), 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3) defeat by Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, who banged down 36 aces.

Kyrgios was excited to be out there in the heat of competition once more, having not been sure if he would ever return to the court due to the severity of the wrist injury – he ruptured the scapholunate ligament and needed reconstructive surgery – as well as his recovery from knee surgery.

But as he plots his way back onto the Tour, everything revolves around the wrist and how he can recover match to match. On Tuesday, he said he was confident he would be in Melbourne for the Australian Open, which begins on Jan 12, but overall has doubts, understandably, about how much he will be able to do.

“It’s all really an experimental kind of (thing,” Kyrgios told reporters in Brisbane. “The surgeon (said)…if you ever go back and play at this level again, it’s on you guys.

“I don’t really have any protocol of how it’s going to be or how it’s going to pull up. So me and my physio, we are taking it as it comes. If we can get through a match, we get through a match. How it pulls up tomorrow, I have no idea. It’s throbbing like shit right now.

“There is a lot of positives. But again, it’s how much do I want to take of the trauma on the body, the pain. I guess, when I played the majority of my career, I was playing pretty much pain-free. You go out there for two, three hours, you’d enjoy the battle and you would just focus. Where now, there’s just constant pain in that wrist.“

“I think I need a miracle and for the stars to align”

Going from playing “with fluffy balls” to a match against one of the biggest servers on Tour is a huge leap but Kyrgios, who needed treatment during the match, knows being fit to play at the Australian Open is an even bigger jump, one that might not even be possible, at least in singles.

” I was, like, really excited for the Oz Open, but after today – obviously I’m super excited. If I’m able to play, I’m able to play – but the reality kind of set in to me,” he said. “That’s a best-of-three match with my wrist. Not only is a Grand Slam mentally really draining, you’re there for two-and-a-half, three weeks, physically a grind. It’s one of the hardest thing to do in any sport, to win a Grand Slam in men’s tennis.

“I think I almost need a miracle and I need the stars to align for my wrist to hold up in a Grand Slam for sure. Today, if this was a Grand Slam, we may still be out on court, and I don’t know how I’d pull up the next day or the day after. Yeah, that’s kind of the reality setting in.”

“Putting myself in a winning position was exciting”

Kyrgios does, nevertheless, expect to be back on court in Brisbane on Wednesday, partnering Novak Djokovic, the pair having come through their first-round match on Monday.

And the 29-year-old said he would try to take the positives.

“Honestly, it was a great match, considering I hadn’t played in 18 months,” he said. “And to put myself in a winning position was exciting. It was just good to be back out there and to say that, you know, I can still play a level against someone like that who is coming off the best year of their career and only getting better and confident, and I’m coming back and I asked the question, and he just played a couple big points better than I did.

“I felt relatively pretty good physically. My legs, my body felt really good. I felt fit and I’m in great shape. Obviously felt some discomfort with the wrist, but he does serve and hit the ball a lot bigger than probably some of the people that I have practised with in the last year.

“There is no hiding. Once you commit to playing like that, you’ve got to be ready. I’m relatively really happy with how it went. You know, if I had (have won) that match, I’m honestly not sure if I’d be able to play my second round. So there is positives, but there is a lot more work to do.”

I don’t have any plan after the Australian Open tennis-wise, to be honest. You know, I’m really confident I could play the Australian Open. It’s just depending on how my body is, how much tennis I can play. Yeah, I guess that’s what I will do. Go home for a couple of days and get ready for the Open.