Nick Kyrgios has ruled himself out of playing singles at the Australian Open, conceding his body is not ready for five-set tennis and ending speculation he would receive a wildcard.
The 30-year-old, whose ranking has fallen to 670 after multiple wrist and knee surgeries limited him to seven singles matches in the past three years, confirmed he will instead play doubles alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis when the tournament begins on January 18.
“After some good conversations with TA, I’ve made the call to focus on doubles for this year’s AO,” Kyrgios wrote on Instagram.
“I’m fit and back on court, but five-setters are a different beast, and I’m not quite ready to go the distance yet.”
Kyrgios, who reached the Wimbledon final in 2022, said he wanted any wildcard to go to someone ready to “make their moment count”, adding: “It’s all building blocks, and I’ll be back next year and pumped to compete.”
His most recent singles outing was a 66-minute loss to American Aleksandar Kovacevic at the Brisbane International earlier this week.
Source: ABC.
