Greek Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios said he misses competing but won’t return to courts until he sees an improvement in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The last time fans saw him on the court was in February at the Acapulco Open when he was forced to retire hurt.
In the game, he met with booing fans as he walked off the court. But the bad boy of the tennis court has always shown that he puts his health above tennis. For this reason, he opted to skip the current US Open taking place. He is not alone, and Rafael Nadal – ranked 2nd in the world – also made the same decision.
Kyrgios maintains that he is waiting for change to take place before he starts playing again.
“I don’t think at the moment I’m really comfortable going anywhere with the current conditions,” Kyrgios said to reporters.
“I don’t really see any real improvement going on in my eye at the moment but at the same time I don’t think it’s the best time for sport to be going ahead also.
“But I’m going to continue to train and stay on top of my body and maybe if it is next year that I start playing, my body’s going to be ready to go and I can be playing the same level tennis as I was when I stopped.
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“It’s so hard to make a definitive decision because things can just balloon out of control in a week.
“Even Ash Barty, she’s a champion of the French Open and she still didn’t feel entirely comfortable going there, and she didn’t feel like she’s had the right preparation and honestly nor have I. ”
He did say that he misses competions.
“I do miss competing, at the end of the day, I’m a competitor with everything I do and I miss going out there and playing but I want to do it in the right circumstances,” he said.
“I want a crowd, I want to play in front of a crowd, I want to be an entertainer, that’s what’s sport’s about and at the moment I just don’t feel as if it’s the right time to play.”