Nick Kyrgios is set to make his long-awaited return to Grand Slam tennis at this year’s Australian Open.
Having missed 18 months of action through injury, Kyrgios made his return to tennis at the Brisbane International earlier this month.
Kyrgios lost to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round, as his wait for a singles ATP win continued, last winning 825 days ago at the 2022 Tokyo Open.
He also played doubles in Brisbane, as Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic reached the second round, exciting fans with a once-in-a-lifetime partnership.
Kyrgios suffered an abdominal injury in Brisbane, leaving many to question whether the controversial star will be able to compete at the Australian Open.
The 2025 Australian Open draw has now been made, however, and one ATP legend has given his thoughts on Kyrgios’ chances, should he be fit enough to compete.
Andy Roddick says the Australian Open draw will go down ‘easily’ for Nick Kyrgios
Speaking on his Served with Andy Roddick podcast, 2003 US Open champion Andy Roddick gave his thoughts on Kyrgios’ early-round matchups.
“He has matches that he can win with [Sebastian] Baez,” he said.
“This is no disrespect to Sebastian Baez because he is kind of the opposite of Nick [Kyrgios] in a lot of ways.
“He is someone who has carved out an unbelievable career and probably approached Nick’s career-high [ranking] at some point, he is uber professional, he stays under the radar.
“But if you were to choose a seed if you had to play Nick Kyrgios in the second round, the matchup against Baez, with the way you serve vs the way he serves on a hard court is probably the one you would choose.”
Kyrgios plays Brit Jacob Fearnley in the first round, and would likely play Baez in the second round should he advance, before things quickly get a lot more tricky.
“We talk a lot about Nick but when he plays the top players he shows up, when there is not the pressure of disappointment he shows up as his full self,” said Roddick.
“As far as draws go if you’re Nick Kyrgios you are saying this is me time.
“No disrespect to the other three players to get him to [Alexander] Zverev, in terms of talent, leaps and bounds the most talented player in the section and then he gets the show.
“He gets Zverev, the number two in the world, where he can do all the things without a lot of down side.
“So as far as draws go, this has to be something which goes down easily and he digests as a show opportunity.”
Roddick did, however, predict that the third round was as far as Kyrgios would go at this year’s Australian Open.
“I still like Zverev through to the quarters,” he said.
What has been said between Andy Roddick and Nick Kyrgios?
Roddick’s Kyrgios prediction seemed fair, but who knows how the Aussie will react, with the pair currently not on the best of terms with one another.
Following the 29-year-old’s criticism of Jannik Sinner amid his doping controversy, Roddick recently spoke out against Kyrgios, calling him a hypocrite.
“There is this weird thing where he [Kyrgios] wants the likes, at this point he is a tennis influencer, he lives for likes, he lives in the comments section,” he said.
“What I have an issue with is the hypocrisy with which he picks and chooses when to levy judgement on others while also wanting you to digest the context of his comments.”
Kyrgios had written several comments under 16-year-old Cruz Hewitt’s Instagram post after he practiced with the world number one Sinner.
“Imagine as an almost 30-year-old man, going into the comments of a 16-year-old who is training with the best player in the world,” said Roddick.
“The lack of awareness you have with bringing trolls and all of the worst of tennis fandom into a 16-year-old’s comments is ridiculous.”
Kyrgios, never afraid to fight back, hit out at Roddick on social media,
“[Andy] Roddick, never ever thought you were a sheep my guy lol,” he said on X.
It remains to be seen how Kyrgios will get on at this year’s Australian Open, but he’ll certainly hope to get off to a strong start when he plays Fearnley on January 13.
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