Kyrgios spent years on the sidelines and even contemplated retirement after picking up career-threatening injuries. His woes started when he pulled out of the 2023 Australian Open to undergo knee surgery.
The former world No. 13 returned in Stuttgart and lost his opening match, picking up another injury. He has not played since and had his wrist “reconstructed” in a secret operation to avoid media attention.
During his lay-off, Kyrgios took on new roles in tennis, working as a pundit for the BBC and Eurosport as he doubted whether his wrist would recover enough to allow him to compete again. But he was pushed to return to the match court after having a hit with Djokovic.
Shedding light on his procedure, the 29-year-old said: “It was a wrist reconstruction, so there was four holes drilled in my hand, and there’s a piece of string kind of holding my wrist together and my fingers looked like sausages when I got out of the surgery.
“I was in a cast for about 12 weeks, no movement, and I basically just had to relearn how to use my right wrist again, even just carrying grocery bags, anything was super painful.
“But then I started getting some real improvement at the nine-month mark… to a point where I feel like I’m playing how I was in 2022.”
Djokovic agreed that he was back to his best when they practised together, giving Kyrgios the last prompt he needed to start planning his comeback. “I was hitting with Novak and when he said to me, ‘It doesn’t look like you’ve had surgery,’” Kyrgios recalled.
“And that was a big motivation to say like maybe I’m actually making some inroads and some progress into getting back because I didn’t really know.
“That was a big drive for me… so, if he didn’t say that, I don’t know if I would have been motivated and if I would have kept pushing on the thought, but that was definitely a big part of the journey when he said that to me.”
Kyrgios recently announced that he would start his 2025 season on home soil at the Brisbane International, which begins on December 29.
Afterwards, he will play his first Grand Slam tournament in two-and-a-half years – the Australian Open.
The former Wimbledon finalist will also test his game out at the World Tennis League exhibition in Abu Dhabi next month. Kyrgios has been placed in Team Kites with Jasmine Paolini and tennis power couple Paula Badosa and Stefanos Tsitsipas.