Kyrgios to play Paris Masters for the first time in his career

Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios has confirmed that he will play the Paris Masters in Bercy this year during a Q&A session with fans on Instagram.

This will mark the first time that the big-serving Australian will play the Paris Masters. Kyrgios, who returned home to Australia after the US Open and chose not to play the Laver Cup last week, is also scheduled to play the Japan Open Tennis Championships next week followed by the Swiss Indoors in Basel later in October.

Earlier this year, Kyrgios had announced that he would travel to Paris next year to play the French Open because his girlfriend wanted to see Paris. The last time the Australian played at Roland-Garros was in 2017.

“Next year I am going to go to Paris. I am announcing now that I am going to the French Open. I haven’t played for four years. So yeah, I’ll be back next year,” he said in April. “My girlfriend just wants to see Paris. I’m going to play the French Open as well.”

Kyrgios is currently ranked No 20 in the world and is in 18th position in the Race to Turin. With the three tournaments, he could make a late push for a singles berth in the season-ending ATP Finals. Kyrgios has also said he will travel to Turin to play doubles at the ATP Finals with partner Thanasi Kokkinakis. The duo, who won the Australian Open doubles title in January, are currently in seventh position in the doubles race.

‘Next year? Wimbledon? You’re going to see a different player’.” – Laver on Kyrgios

Meanwhile, one of the sport’s biggest legends, Rod Laver, who also hails from Australia, has backed Kyrgios to continue his recent success in in the coming year.

“Kyrgios has all the ability in the world, every shot that you could wish to make,” Laver said in an interview to The Telegraph. “He’s probably one of the biggest servers in the game. He’s accurate, he can play under pressure. I was thrilled when he reached the final, but he didn’t think he could win Wimbledon. In my mind, I said, ‘Hey, put in your best performance. You may surprise yourself.’ A month or two later, I said, ‘You can win some of these matches. Why don’t you apply yourself, man?’

“He realised, ‘S***, I am good enough, I can do this,’” Laver said. “That was the greatest thing that happened to him. Unfortunately, he said that he wanted to go back to Australia and not play in the Laver Cup. But he knows that he can play and compete now. Don’t walk on the court thinking, ‘If I get three games, that’s enough. Now he’s thinking, ‘Next year? Wimbledon? You’re going to see a different player.’”

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