MELBOURNE, Australia — Love him or hate him, Nick Kyrgios is nice for tennis, and the game will get a lift from his return to Grand Slam motion on the Australian Open — or so he says.
“We watch sport as a result of we would like personalities. … It is like drama, theater,” 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Kyrgios mentioned Friday, when he indicated he thinks he’ll have the ability to compete regardless of a latest subject with an belly muscle. “For me, being personally again, it provides a little bit of query marks to, like, ‘What’s going to occur immediately?’ I like that. Each time I step out on courtroom, I do not know if I’ll be tremendous controversial in a very good or unhealthy method.
“All through my profession, it hasn’t at all times been good,” continued the 29-year-old Australian, sporting a inexperienced hat in help of his favourite NBA crew, the reigning champion Boston Celtics, “nevertheless it’s added plenty of pleasure to the sport.”
As play begins at Melbourne Park on Sunday, Kyrgios is certain to be among the many gamers garnering probably the most consideration from spectators, media and different athletes, assuming, that’s, he’s match sufficient. He has performed two singles matches since 2023 whereas coping with knee and wrist issues.
He made it sound after a observe session Friday morning — and earlier than a second one deliberate for the afternoon — as if he might be prepared for his first main in additional than two years.
“It is good to be again. I feel it is vital,” Kyrgios mentioned. “I feel the game was getting a bit mundane.”
It doesn’t matter what anybody thinks of Kyrgios — and everybody, it appears, has an opinion — there might be little question that he’s something however boring.
That goes for on the courtroom, from the booming serves to the between-the-legs photographs to the back-and-forths with chair umpires and spectators to the racket smashes and fine-drawing outbursts. Away from the tour, he by no means appears distant from headlines both, together with when he escaped conviction on a cost of widespread assault when he pleaded responsible to shoving a former girlfriend to the bottom throughout an argument in 2021. Then there are the instances when he affords his ideas, as a TV commentator or by way of statements at information conferences or on-line, that upset folks, together with these days about doping circumstances involving Jannik Sinner and Iga Swiatek.
“I do know that individuals do not like once I simply communicate out about issues,” Kyrgios mentioned lately, “and [am] sincere about issues.”
The latest main match that Kyrgios was in a position to take part in was the 2022 US Open, when he reached the quarterfinals.
He returned to competitors final week on the Brisbane Worldwide tuneup match, taking part in one singles match and becoming a member of Novak Djokovic for 2 doubles matches.
In terms of Kyrgios’ expertise, different gamers are likely to agree with Jordan Thompson’s evaluation Friday: “If he is match, he is a contender.”
Daniil Medvedev, the 2021 US Open champion and a three-time runner-up at Melbourne Park, mentioned a wholesome Kyrgios is “positively nice for tennis.”
“I might like to see him play in opposition to Carlos [Alcaraz] and Jannik [Sinner]. His largest weapon is his serve, [and] he has the abilities and the arms,” Medvedev mentioned. “I am solely completely satisfied if he comes again to tennis.”