Persistent swelling in his right knee had prevented him from practising for more than half an hour, he said, before sudden improvement in September convinced him to take aim at another Australian Open despite fearing he had played at Melbourne Park for the last time.
Open boss Craig Tiley has spoken with Kyrgios about giving him a wildcard, but Kyrgios wants to see how his body handles playing at this week’s Brisbane International, where he starts against American Aleksandar Kovacevic.
Kyrgios will also play doubles with close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis, who is on the comeback trail, himself, from major pectoral surgery in February last year.
Kyrgios is adamant he has nothing to prove – and took umbrage to a question in his pre-tournament media conference in Brisbane suggesting he actually might – but told this masthead there were several factors in whether he would play in Melbourne.
“This is a great test,” he said. “The last month has been pretty full on, travel-wise, and I’ve barely spent time at home. I’m on the plane, I’ve been training, and I’ve been playing.
“We [Tiley and him] had a call, and I said, ‘Look, if I’m able to get through Brisbane and feel pretty solid about my performance and my body, then, yeah, I’m happy to tag on’.
“But it comes from me lowering my ego and saying, ‘I was once someone who played a final of a grand slam’ … I was so close to achieving something that I’d worked my entire life for. But I’m just taking this week first, and seeing how it goes.”
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Something else Kyrgios is wary about is taking the spot of a younger countryman who might need the wildcard more than he does as a career jolt.
He remembers how a John Millman injury opened the door for him to make his grand-slam debut as a wildcard at Roland-Garros 12 years ago. But Kyrgios said the crowds he played in front of recently were evidence that people still wanted to see him play.
“There are days when I look at myself in the mirror, and I’m like, ‘Do I really want to go out there and train, or put myself in that pressure situation again?’ I mean, I think we all have that conversation,” he said.
“I’m never going to play a full schedule again, that’s for sure. But anytime there’s a tournament in your backyard, you’ve got to try and take that opportunity, I think.”
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