"I’ll see how my wrist responds": Nick Kyrgios refuses to rule himself out of Miami Open despite retiring from Indian Wells first-round clash

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.”