Nick Kyrgios is rapidly closing in on a return to tennis, having endured a very difficult time through injury.
Kyrgios plans to play the 2025 Australian Open, with the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up having last played at the Stuttgart Open last summer.
Australian icon Kyrgios has been on the practice courts as he steps up his preparations to return to competitive tennis, with a home Grand Slam next on his agenda.
The 29-year-old has been battling wrist and knee issues in recent times, but looks set to finally make his long-awaited comeback in Melbourne at the turn of the year.
Kyrgios has certainly missed plenty of major incidents during his time away from the sport, with Andy Murray having retired from tennis earlier this year.
Nick Kyrgios doesn’t want to retire like Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray
And the Scot is now set to be followed into retirement by Rafael Nadal, who is set to hang up his racket after the Davis Cup Finals next month.
Kyrgios undoubtedly has plenty of respect for the two legends, but the Australian has admitted that he does not want to go out in a similar fashion.
“I look at how Andy Murray’s doing it now, and how Rafael is going out, I don’t want to be like that either, I don’t want to be kind of crawling to the finish line in a sense,” he said on The Louis Theroux podcast.
READ MORE: Nick Kyrgios finally reveals which tournament he will make his return to tennis at
“What Andy Murray’s achieved in this sport is second to basically no one… unless you are Novak (Djokovic), (Roger) Federer, or Nadal, like, the next person is Andy Murray.
“It’s like you’ve achieved everything. You deserve to go out, I think, a little bit more gracefully than he’s done. I think that the surgeries, the pain, it’s just not worth it, in my opinion.”
How will other players react to Nick Kyrgios at the 2025 Australian Open?
Kyrgios undoubtedly still has a lot left to give to tennis, with his exciting career having unfortunately been major disrupted by injuries.
It remains to be seen if indeed he will make it back in time for the 2025 Australian Open, but fortunately he seems very confident that he will be taking part.
That will give him a massive boost at this stage of his career, not to mention what it would do for the home supporters.
READ MORE: Nick Kyrgios says what chance he has of being in the main draw at the 2025 Australian Open
There will also be plenty of intrigue surrounding the reception Kyrgios will get from his fellow professionals, namely Jannik Sinner.
The Australian hasn’t seen eye-to-eye with the world number one in recent times, but Kyrgios has seemingly patched up his once-frayed relationship with Novak Djokovic.
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