Nick Kyrgios is gearing up to return to action after struggling with injury at the Australian Open.
Kyrgios suffered an abdominal tear prior to the Australian Open, before losing in the first round to Brit Jacob Fearnley.
Following this match, Kyrgios cast doubt over his future after suggesting that it could have been the last time that he plays a singles match at the Australian Open.
After the first Grand Slam tournament of 2025, Kyrgios was supposed to play the Davis Cup for the first time in five years, but later withdrew from representing Australia in their qualifier tie against Sweden.
However, a return to the matchcourt is in sight for Kyrgios after he appeared on a prestigious tournament’s entry list.

Nick Kyrgios uses protected ranking to enter Indian Wells
Kyrgios is set to play an exhibition in Mexico in February, but is not entered to play any official ATP tournaments until March.
That is where the 29-year-old will return to Indian Wells for the first time years, as the sunshine double gets underway in California.
Despite being ranked all the way down at world number 1093, after only playing two singles matches in the past 12 months, Kyrgios can still enter Masters 1000 tournaments like Indian Wells.
Kyrgios underwent wrist surgery in September 2023, so is able to use a protected ranking of world number 21 after spending over 18 months on the injury sidelines.
He is not the only player using a protected ranking to enter the men’s singles draw at Indian Wells, with American’s Jenson Brooksby and Reilly Opelka, who beat Novak Djokovic in Brisbane, also doing so.
All of the top 76 ranked players have entered the tournament, with Italian Luca Nardi the first alternate.
Nick Kyrgios’ record at Indian Wells
Kyrgios has a 64% win percentage at Indian Wells, having competed in the singles tournament on five previous occasions.
This includes two quarter-finals with the last coming in 2022, where Kyrgios was beaten by Rafael Nadal.
It was in this match where the former Wimbledon finalist smashed his racket on multiple occasions, with Nadal going onto reach the final where he was beaten by Taylor Fritz.
| Year | Result | Match Kyrgios lost |
| 2015 | Second Round | Grigor Dimitrov (11) beat Kyrgios, 7-6(2) 3-6 7-6(4) |
| 2016 | Second Round | Albert Ramos Vinolas beat Kyrgios, 7-6(4) 7-5 |
| 2017 | Quarter-finals | Roger Federer (9) received a walkover after Kyrgios withdrew due to illness |
| 2019 | Second Round | Philipp Kohlschreiber beat Kyrgios, 6-4 6-4 |
| 2022 | Quarter-finals | Rafael Nadal (4) beat Kyrgios, 7-6(0) 5-7 6-4 |
Kyrgios also reached a doubles quarter-final at Indian Wells in 2017 with Serbian Nenad Zimonjic, but it is unclear if intends to find a partner for the tournament this year.
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