- Alex de Minaur has revealed when Nick Kyrgios will return
- Kyrgios has been out of action for more than a year.
- De Minaur hinted that Kyrgios could target the hard court season
Nick Kyrgios has urged Alex de Minaur to rest and come back stronger as Australia’s top two players now have to overcome injury problems to get fit for the final Grand Slam of the year in New York.
De Minaur, still recovering from the “freak” hip cartilage injury that forced him out of Wimbledon, has been told he could be out for between three and six weeks, effectively dashing any hopes of him playing at the Paris Olympics in 17 days.
However, while speaking of his devastation at having to withdraw before the biggest match of his career – his opening Wimbledon quarter-final against Novak Djokovic – de Minaur also offered some potentially encouraging news about Kyrgios’ injury problems.
“I’ve seen him hitting. I think he looks like he’s feeling a little bit better,” de Minaur said of the 2022 Wimbledon finalist, who is working as a BBC commentator at the event.
“From what I understand, I think he plans to play again in the US hard court season. I don’t know the exact details, but it will all depend on his injury and how he feels.”
Kyrgios has not played a match since withdrawing on the eve of Wimbledon last year because he has been plagued by wrist, knee and foot injuries.
But the 29-year-old was confident that De Minaur, who had been told he risked being out for four months if he aggravated the injury in a match, made the right decision in withdrawing from the encounter with Djokovic.
“Alex de Minaur is playing the best tennis of his life,” Kyrgios told the BBC.
Alex de Minaur reveals when he thinks Nick Kyrgios will return to tennis
The Australian player has not played competitively for over a year.
‘He has a great medical team and I wouldn’t advise him to go out and play and potentially miss the rest of the season, when he’s probably one of the favourites to go far at the US Open as well.
So I think he made the right decision.”
Kyrgios was scheduled to commentate the match and said: “The way Novak and Demon have been playing, I think it would have been a four or five-set match at the very least. I was going to blow the final whistle so I was very excited.”
It could be, then, that both players end up targeting the US Open in August as their most realistic return point, although De Minaur admits the rarity of his injury meant it was difficult to know exactly how long a full recovery would take.
“The tear should heal naturally and then there is the process of rehabilitating the surrounding area and helping to keep it safe,” he said.
“I have to do exercises that don’t irritate the area further and that allow it to heal. So it’s up to me and my body how quickly it heals.”
De Minaur says he believes Kyrgios is aiming to return during the hard court season
‘In the past, with injuries similar to the one I had with osteitis pubis, I came back earlier than expected, so I hope that will be the case in this case as well.’
The most annoying thing for De Minaur is that next week he will be ranked, for the first time, among the best six in the world in the midst of the best season of his career.
“What hurts the most is knowing that I am so close, closer than ever,” he said.
But 2021 women’s champion Ash Barty believes this is just a temporary blip.
“Alex’s journey over the last few years has been astronomical,” the Australian said.
“He should be in the top 10. He should be in the quarter-finals, semi-finals and the later stages of Grand Slams. It won’t be the first time he’s been in the quarter-finals here. He’ll have another chance.”