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MELBOURNE: Australian showman Nick Kyrgios admitted on Saturday that he did not miss tennis – or the people who participated in it – during his one-year absence from coronavirus, but now he feels mentally refreshed and excited to be back.
The 25-year-old last played in February at the Acapulco Open before a wrist injury and then the global pandemic brought his season to a halt.
He chose not to travel to the US or French Opens and emerged as a moral voice for the game, criticizing his fellow stars, Novak Djokovic in particular, for their behavior during the virus crisis.
“To be honest, I don’t miss a lot of people on tour. Apart from all the Australian guys, ”he said at Melbourne Park before his comeback match at the ATP Murray River Open the next week before the Australian Open on February 8.
“I’m not going to lie, I didn’t miss the game much.
“I am a competitor, I compete with everything I do. But I was playing computer games, all that sort of thing, getting my little competitive edge there. I really didn’t miss the game at all. “
Kyrgios said the free time allowed him to focus on “the things that really matter.”
“In my spare time I didn’t think about tennis at all. I was going through a couple of things off the court, ”he said.
“My mom was not so healthy. I was focusing on things that really matter to me personally. For me, tennis is not my top priority. “
Long a polarizing figure for his on-court antics, Kyrgios appeared to turn the corner at the Australian Open last year, winning new fans for his efforts to mobilize support for the victims of the deadly wildfires that devastated large areas of the country.
He said the disaster gave him perspective and focus, which made him realize there were more important things than getting angry on a tennis court.
And the opportunity to return to perform at his home Grand Slam this year forced him to return to training, hitting two hours a day for the past few months.
“It was a bit difficult to get out, to get into the routine of things. Wake up and say, ‘Look, we’ve got the Australian Open right around the corner, let’s get some work done.’ It wasn’t that easy, ”he said.
But after the initial shock, Kyrgios is now “mentally completely refreshed.”
“I feel like I’m playing well and I’m ready to play. Everyone is really listening to it by ear. Nobody really knows who is fit and who is not, ”he said.
“I’ll take it day by day and try to have as much fun as I can.
“I am very blessed to be here again,” he added. “I’m not sure how many of these I played now. I definitely feel like a tour veteran now.
“I’m happy to be around (tennis) again.”
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