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Australia’s Nick Kyrgios says he was “almost dreading” returning to tennis after a long injury lay-off, but now feels “extremely confident” he can perform well at Wimbledon.
Kyrgios, 28, lost to Novak Djokovic in last year’s final in SW19 and has only played one tournament this year because of a knee injury that needed surgery.
“It’s been brutal and hard,” said Kyrgios, who is seeded 30th and faces Belgian David Goffin in his opener.
“I’m just going to take it day by day.”
But he added: “What I’ve achieved in my career never leaves.
“Last year wasn’t that long ago really. I feel like I’m still serving as good as ever. I’m still able to beat a lot of people on the court.”
The start of an injury-hit season saw Kyrgios pull out of the Australian Open in January, a decision made on the eve of the tournament and leaving him “devastated”.
Surgery on a cyst growing in his meniscus quickly followed and he was not able to return to competitive action until last month.
“I don’t miss the sport at all, to be fair. I was almost dreading coming back a little bit. But it’s my job,” he said.
Kyrgios suffered a first-round loss to China’s Wu Yibing at the Stuttgart Open, struggling with his movement during a straight-set defeat, then pulled out of the Halle Open the following week.
But he has been practising at the All England Club this week, saying his body felt “OK” after sets against fellow Australian Jordan Thompson and American Maxime Cressy.
“I still think there’s some question marks for sure. I mean five-set tennis is a completely different base altogether,” Kyrgios said.
“I look at my preparations last year coming in, I probably had the most ideal preparation possible. It couldn’t be any different this year.
“I’ve been hitting with some really good players this week and my body is feeling OK.
“I’m just going to try to do everything I can – prepare, go out there and play some good tennis.”
By Jonathan Jurejko
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