Nick Kyrgios declared himself fit for Wimbledon after his long injury lay-off but said he was “almost dreading” his return to tennis.
The 28-year-old pulled out of the Australian Open on the eve of the tournament, announcing he needed surgery on his knee, and he has played only one match since, last month in Stuttgart.
Kyrgios enjoyed by far the best season of his career last year, reaching the Wimbledon final and achieving the sort of consistent results that for a long time appeared beyond him.
View this post on InstagramHe has made no secret of his wavering love for the sport and the lifestyle it requires and, while he described the first five months of the year as “brutal”, he was brutally honest about his feelings regarding his comeback.
“I don’t miss the sport at all,” he said. “I was almost dreading coming back a little bit. But it’s my job.”
It was clear in his defeat by China’s Wu Yibing in Stuttgart that Kyrgios’ knee was far from fully recovered and he pulled out of subsequent tournaments in Halle and Majorca.
The Australian has been practising at the All England Club over the last few days, though, and said: “I still think there’s some question marks, for sure.
“Obviously five-set tennis is a completely different base altogether. I look at my preparations last year coming in, I probably had the most ideal preparation possible. It couldn’t be any different this year.
“I’m not going to discredit the work I’ve put in for the last six months just trying to maintain my fitness, get back on court.
“I’ve been hitting with some really good players this week and my body is feeling OK. I’m going to take it one day at a time. I’m not going to look forward and put unfair expectations on myself.
“I’m just going to try to do everything I can, prepare, go out there and play some good tennis. I feel probably as good as I could feel at the moment.”
At his best, Kyrgios would be high up a list of possible challengers to defending champion Novak Djokovic, who he took a set off in the final 12 months ago.
The Australian has been handed a potentially tricky opener against Belgian David Goffin, who reached the quarter-finals last year, and in a 10-minute press conference veered between playing down expectations and insisting he can defy his limited preparations.
“I’m extremely confident,” he said. “I’ve never been a player that needs a lot of matches before playing a grand slam. I’ve always been kind of on the side of not playing too much.
“What I’ve achieved in my career never leaves. Last year, it wasn’t that long ago really. I feel like I’m still serving as good as ever. I’m still able to beat a lot of people on the court.
View this post on Instagram“The thing about tennis is the tour is so vigorous, there’s tournaments week in and week out, you kind of don’t have time to reflect on anything you’ve done. I’ve had so much time to sit back and be forced to look at everything I did last year. I wanted to do more.
“Pulling out of the Australian Open was one of the hardest things I had to do because I generally feel like, with the tennis I was playing and with my grand slam experience, just the way I was feeling, I felt like I could win that tournament.
“It’s been hard. I’m trying to expect the same sort of tennis that I was playing last year, and I don’t think that’s fair at the moment.”
Djokovic makes winning return in Italian Open
Novak Djokovic made a winning return to the ATP Tour as he overcame a tough opener in Rome with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Corentin Moutet on Friday.
The Serbian, who has not played since the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo, made a slow start, falling 1-3 behind in the first set, but recovered to take the first match.
Moutet could not regain his level, and Djokovic dropped only one set as he cruised through the second match to advance after one hour and 26 minutes.
Djokovic, a six-time champion in Rome, will take on Alejandro Tabilo in the third round after the Chilean beat Yannick Hanfmann 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
Data Debrief: Still on top
Djokovic now has 23 wins in ATP-1000 events since turning 35. He eclipses John Isner (22) for the outright second most wins in such tournaments since the introduction of the format in 1990; only Federer, with 51, has more.
The Serbian will have the opportunity to clinch his 1100th match win in the third round as he chases his first trophy of the season.
Defending champion Rybakina withdraws from Italian Open due to illness
Defending champion Elena Rybakina has been forced to withdraw from the Italian Open due to illness.
Rybakina has enjoyed a fine start to 2024, boasting a 30-5 record and capturing three WTA titles to match Iga Swiatek for the most of any player on the tour.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion won her second WTA 1000 title in Rome last year, defeating Swiatek and Jelena Ostapenko en route to the final, which she won by virtue of a walkover after taking the opening set, due to an injury to Anhelina Kalinina.
The Kazakhstani was set to open her title defence against Irina-Camelia Begu on Friday, but lucky loser Oceane Dodin took her place after she felt too unwell to play.
The world number four said: "Unfortunately I do not feel well enough to compete. I have such good memories from last year and was looking forward to defending my title.
"Rome is so special to me, and I look forward to being back next year to reclaim my title and play in front of the Italian fans."
Former US Open champion Thiem to retire from tennis this year
Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem has announced he will retire from tennis at the end of the 2024 season.
Thiem memorably fought back from two sets down to beat Alexander Zverev in the final of the 2020 tournament at Flushing Meadows, also reaching three other grand slam finals during his career.
Having reached a career-high ranking of third in the world in the aftermath of that US Open success, Thiem has since struggled with wrist and knee injuries, failing to progress beyond the second round of a major since the 2021 Australian Open.
The Austrian failed to reach the recent Madrid Open, going down to Thanasi Kokkinakis in qualifying on the clay, which he had previously regarded as his strongest surface.
In a video posted to Instagram on Friday, the 30-year-old said: "I have to tell you a very important, and very sad but very beautiful message. The 2024 season will be my last one, I'm going to finish my career at the end of the season.
"There are reasons behind it; first of all, my wrist is not exactly the way it should be, and the second reason is my inner feeling.
"I was thinking about this decision for a very long time, thinking about my whole journey as a tennis player, which was incredible.
"I've had success and won trophies I would never have dreamed of. It was an incredible journey that I am so thankful for, but in the end I came to the conclusion that this decision is the only right one."
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