While doing commentary work at this year’s Wimbledon, Kyrgios faced former world number one Djokovic and the record-setting Serb proved an unlikely source of inspiration.
“I faced Novak and when he told me, ‘I don’t think you’ve had surgery,’ that was a huge motivator for me to say maybe I’m actually making some progress and making progress in my recovery. Because I didn’t know much.
“That was a huge driving force for me. So I don’t know if I would have been motivated or continued to push the idea if he hadn’t said that, but it was definitely a big part of it. Go on a trip when he told me so.”
With his last tour match in Stuttgart in June 2023, Kyrgios also committed to play at the 2025 Australian Open.
First, he will participate in the World Tennis League exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, where the mixed team event will also feature players such as Iga Swiatek, Casper Ruud, Aryna Sabalenka, Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev.
Once ranked 13th in the world with seven titles on the ATP Tour, he is currently unranked but still has Grand Slam ambitions.
He said, “There was a good chance that we wouldn’t be able to return to this level, and there was a good chance that we could play confidently, so we have to make a reasonable decision ourselves. I think we’ve already exceeded expectations by a lot.”
“But I’m my toughest critic, I want to win games and I don’t want to make numbers.
“The way I’m playing now, I’ve never hit it as well as I do now, so I’m just going to try to hit it every day.
“I think my level in general is high enough to challenge for these kinds of tournaments and Grand Slams, so I’m excited to be back.”
