NICK KYRGIOS underwent secret surgery to fix his wrist – and is now plotting his tennis comeback.
The outspoken Aussie, 29, kept his lips tight that he went under the knife to fix an issue that can “lead inevitably to arthritis”.
Kyrgios first damaged his wrist when he took a tumble during a match in 2015.
But it was eight years later that things got much more serious.
Kyrgios had only just returned from a knee injury – playing one match since October 2022 – when he was hitting at Wimbledon last year and felt pain in his wrist.
The problem got progressively worse, to the point where it was too painful to do simple tasks such as opening car doors.
Stem cell therapy did not work as he was diagnosed with a full rupture of the scapholunate ligament – effectively the ACL of the wrist.
Kyrgios was at genuine risk of getting arthritis before the age of 30 – until having an undercover 90-minute wrist reconstruction op in Adelaide.
Surgeon Dr Michael Sandow told the Canberra Times: “When I first talked to Nick, he was very depressed and looking at never playing tennis again.
“He had very nasty wrist instability with a tear that can create significant wrist bone collapse and leads inevitably to arthritis.
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“He was quite disabled when I first saw him.
“It was funny, we actually snuck him in for the surgery and nobody knew.
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“We brought him into the bottom car park, snuck him to the top floor ward, then to theatre and back to the ward, and no media found out he was in Adelaide for wrist surgery.”
Kyrgios spent months in rehab, giving time for the wrist to heal before being able to start strength and conditioning to get it ready for competitive tennis again – including specialist exercises done by musicians.
By June, ten months on from the surgery, he had graduated from 25 per cent density balls through 50 per cent and 75 per cent up to regular tennis balls.
Kyrgios is back at Wimbledon this year in a punditry capacity – splitting his time between the BBC and ESPN.
His insight and enthusiasm have brought fresh energy to commentary – while his decision to wear a winter coat on Centre Court had tennis fans in stitches.
But during his free time, he has been using the practice courts at the All England Club – even hitting with Novak Djokovic.
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An official return date has not been confirmed – although Kyrgios has signed up for the Ultimate Tennis Showdown in New York on August 22-23.
His Aussie compatriot Alex De Minaur, speaking after withdrawing injured before his quarter-final with Djokovic, said: “I have seen him hitting, he looks like he’s feeling a lot better.
“As far as I know, I think the US hard-court swing is when he is planning to return. I don’t know the exact specifics.
“It will depend on his injury and how he’s feeling.”
Kyrgios told the Canberra Times: “This has been a really challenging time – the hardest of my career.
“People aren’t expecting me to come back, especially after an injury like this, so I would love to do that and play again.
“Just getting out there and playing at a decent level again would be a bonus.”
He later added on BBC commentary: “Hopefully my body doesn’t take too long.”
PRIZE MONEY for the 2024 Wimbledon Championships is a new record – and puts the grass-court Slam at the top of the tree.
The All England Club will dish out £50million across all the events – an increase of £5.3m and 11.9 per cent on last year, where singles champions Carlos Alcaraz and Marketa Vondrousova picked up £2.35m each.
However, the king and queen of grass this July will collect an extra £350,000 – taking the winner’s earnings to £2.7m.
Here is the breakdown for the 2024 Wimbledon singles prize money:
