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Nick Kyrgios says he still has “fire in the belly” as he prepares to return to training.<\/b><\/p>\n
Australian Kyrgios missed all four majors in 2023 because of wrist, knee and foot injuries and has played just one ATP Tour match since October 2022.<\/p>\n
As a result, in January the former Wimbledon finalist said he did not want to play tennis any more.<\/a><\/p>\n But speaking to the Australian Open Show podcast, Kyrgios, 28, said he is ready to reignite his career.<\/p>\n “It’s arguably been one of the hardest years of my life tennis-wise,” Kyrgios said.<\/p>\n “I’ve had some really hard conversations with myself, if I want to keep doing this. So I know there’s still fire in the belly, which is good, it’s healthy.”<\/p>\n After so many injury troubles, which required knee and wrist surgery, Kyrgios is cautious about setting a timeframe for his return to playing.<\/p>\n His last competitive match was in June 2023, when he lost to China’s world number 64 Wu Yibing in Stuttgart.<\/p>\n “I’m hitting for the first time next week, so as soon as I get back out on court I guess it’s just going to be starting up, getting that load back through my wrist and my body,” Kyrgios said.<\/p>\n “But I definitely will be coming back. It’s just hard to put an exact date on it because the injury was quite severe.”<\/p>\n An exceptionally talented player, Kyrgios added that he wants to find his enjoyment of tennis again after such a challenging recovery process.<\/p>\n In 2022, he reached his first Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon, losing out to Novak Djokovic.<\/a><\/p>\n