Brilliant tennis players like Nick Kyrgios don’t come along every day. The Australian now wants to attack again at the Australian Open after a long injury break – but has to worry about his return.
It could be very close. A grade 1 abdominal muscle strain means that Nick Kyrgios has to worry about whether he will be able to take part in the Australian Open (January 12th to 26th). Recently, a lot of things were going against Kyrgios’ health anyway.
He had recurring wrist and knee problems. Kyrgios played his last match on the ATP tour in the summer of 2023. Now, at his home tournament in Melbournethings should really start again.
If Kyrgios does not recover in time, not only he but also many tennis fans around the world would be deeply disappointed. After all, Kyrgios belongs to a very rare species of player that tennis lovers don’t see very often – and who are missed.
Kyrgios has no coach
Kyrgios is ultimately kissed by sheer exuberant talent. He is also equipped with an enormous amount of ball and game feel. And to top it all off, he is also driven by great self-confidence. Just like the Czech Miloslav Mecir, now 60 years old.
Similar to Kyrgios today, Mecir – also affectionately known as “the cat” – was superior to his opponents in the vast majority of (tennis) categories in the 1980s – but not in terms of training enthusiasm.
Miloslav Mecir was considered a genius by many tennis fans in the 1980s.
While the competitors spent hours upon hours on the courts or in the weight rooms, Mecir – to put it mildly – shared his efforts. And Kyrgios has similar habits and hasn’t even hired a coach.
No Grand Slam title yet
As is so often the case in sports, real genius obviously cannot be channeled into structured channels. Or how else can it be explained that shortly before his first semi-final at Wimbledon 2022, Kyrgios preferred to give his girlfriend practice lessons, while right next door his opponent Rafael Nadal trained as if his life was on the line?
That’s why neither Mecir nor Kyrgios – despite winning a few titles – has it in their favour Grand Slam-Title passed. After all: At 29 years old, the Australian is still young enough to achieve this big goal. In any case, there is no lack of the necessary conviction in his own abilities, even if Kyrgios ultimately lost his first final in London against Novak Djokovic.
“I don’t know if anyone in the history of tennis has made it to the Wimbledon final without a coach. So for IQ I would probably take myself,” Kyrgios recently said when asked to select a perfect tennis player on an Australian television show. He also preferred his own serve.
Rarely open type
In addition to his exceptional sporting ability, what sets Kyrgios apart from many of his professional colleagues – even across sports – is his open personality. In any case, he doesn’t allow himself to be told to keep his mouth shut, even if that doesn’t always go down well everywhere. Most recently clearly noticeable in the Jannik Sinner case.
The Italian tested positive for the banned steroid Clostebol twice in March 2024 but was not banned from the ATP tour. “You will be tested twice for a banned substance, you should be banned for two years. The performance has been increased”said Kyrgios in a podcast. “If I played against him, I would make every person in the crowd turn against him.”
Sinner is likely to take Kyrgios’ threat seriously. To do this, the Australian would first have to be fit to play in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.