Australia’s
Nick Kyrgios has not ruled himself
out of playing at the
Miami Open after being forced to withdraw from the
Indian Wells. The 29-year-old has struggled with fitness
concerns for a long time. He suffered a major wrist injury in 2022, forcing him out of action for nearly two years. He returned to the court late last year
but has been unable to play to his highest potential.
He featured at the Australian Open but suffered a defeat in
the first round. He was forced to retire from the doubles category event
because of a fitness concern. He returned to the court at Indian Wells, where he was forced to retire from the first-round contest against Botic van de Zandschulp because he felt pain in his wrist. The final score of the match
was 7-6, 3-0.
Talking after the match, Kyrgios admitted that he was emotional because playing tennis has not been fun ever since he returned to the court after a lengthy injury layoff. However, the former world number 13
refused to rule himself out of the Miami Open, stating that he would see how his wrist would respond in the coming days.
“The pain is not great but I’ll just keep moving forward
trying to do the right thing. Obviously the time frame for Miami is not ideal,”
he said. “But that’s where I was scheduled to play so I’ll see how my wrist
responds and if not Miami then I’ll keep looking forward. I can’t keep looking
back and being disappointed. It’s just more so I guess the amount of work I’ve
put in to get back, and just to know that it’s not — like, I can play some,
there are glimpses of some really good tennis that I can still play. I guess
this process has probably been one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced in my
life. In reality, it’s not too bad, but for my tennis career, it’s by far the
biggest. Yeah, just the amount of work that goes in when I go back home or when
I’m not playing, it’s not fun.”