MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Nick Kyrgios won a match for the first time in nearly 2½ years on Wednesday at the Miami Open, beating Mackenzie McDonald 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 while wearing a thick wrap of beige tape on his surgically repaired right wrist that he said was numb after he took five painkillers.
“I’m not going to lie: I was pretty close to crying on court. I just think about the last two years, and it’s been pretty brutal, to be honest,” said Kyrgios, the runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2022. “I was in a cast for 12 weeks. Couldn’t move my wrist. And the surgeons were saying I’d never play again. So I was listening to a lot of the outside noise — whether I’d be able to play at this level and win. Playing’s one thing, but winning matches and executing is another thing.”
The Australian, who turns 30 next month, hadn’t come out on the right end of an official contest since October 2022, when he defeated Kamil Majchrzak at a tournament in Tokyo and then withdrew before what would have been a matchup against Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals.
Since then, Kyrgios needed operations for a torn ligament in his wrist and on his knee, sidelining him for nearly all of 2023 — when he competed once in singles — and all of the 2024 season.
Kyrgios, one of the named plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday by players against groups that run tennis, began this year with an 0-3 record until Wednesday.
The lack of competition has dropped him from a career high of No. 13 all the way down to No. 892 in the ATP rankings; he was able to enter the Miami field thanks to a protected ranking. He was a semifinalist in this hard-court tournament in 2016 and 2017.
“I used to actually win a fair bit, so this kind of feels normal, but I don’t think it’s really sunk it that I was in a place where I couldn’t hit a fluffy tennis ball to now beating a solid player,” said Kyrgios, who delivered 13 aces Wednesday. “It’s pretty surreal.”
McDonald, a Californian who eliminated Rafael Nadal at the 2023 Australian Open, is ranked 101st and went through qualifying to earn a spot in the main draw of the Miami Open.
Next for Kyrgios is a matchup against No. 22 seed Karen Khachanov, a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist.
They’ve played three times previously, including five-setters at the 2020 Australian Open, won by Kyrgios, and at the 2022 US Open, won by Khachanov.
“We pretty much grew up together through juniors. He’s an insane workhorse. So professional. Always shows up. Pretty much the opposite of what I do,” Kyrgios said with a smile. “If I make the start line, I’ll give him what I’ve got. But I can’t say it’ll be what it used to be between us two.”
Source: espn.com