On January 21, Beijing time, after losing 1-3 to Medvedev in the second round of the Australian Open, Nick Kyrgios once again stood at the crossroads of his career. The one-time No. 13 player could slip to No. 124 after the Australian Open, putting him well below the entry threshold for the final three Grand Slams of the season.
Despite beating Roger Federer on slow clay, Kyrgios was terrified of playing on clay, opting out of last year’s French Open and heading straight to Wimbledon’s grass court. Kyrgios, who is still in the men’s doubles draw, is likely to follow the same path in 2022. If he doesn’t want to miss the Grand Slams, Kyrgios will need to improve his ranking and risk qualifying for the French Open or chasing a wild card starting in May.
But after the Australian Open, none of those scenarios crossed Kyrgios’ mind: “I’m not looking forward to it at all. I’m going to enjoy myself tonight. I don’t plan things, I don’t really care what happens in the next month. We all know that people can doubt me as much as they want, but they all know I’m going to be in a big game like this. You see, there’s a lot of people, and the tickets are selling well, that says it all.”
Kyrgios only played his second game in four months, but his skills still entertained the audience: “No matter how much I practice or how many games I play, I’m going to work hard for a game like this. I don’t Avoid it. Obviously I’m not happy with Daniel Medvedev being drawn in the second round because I’m down in the rankings. If I were against a lower-ranked player, I thought I’d win, but that’s how it is. I’m proud. I’m just proud of my way. I worked hard, entertained people, that’s all. I didn’t think about where my next race would be.”
Kyrgios, who has reached the quarter-finals of two majors, revealed that the Dallas Open, which starts on February 7 local time, is his next game, and then he will travel to Delray Beach and Indian Wells to play this year. The first ATP 1000 Masters Series match. But Kyrgios also reiterated his previous decision to retire: “I don’t know what I’ll be doing in a year, I might still be playing tennis, but I don’t know what it’s going to be like. I’m only thinking about tonight. and tomorrow.”
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