Nick Kyrgios believes that he will be fit in time for this weekend’s Davis Cup tie between Australia and Slovakia after pulling out of the US Open due to injury.
The world No.15 was forced to retire from his third round match against Illya Marchenko in New York due to an hip problem. The injury casts doubts on Kyrgios’ Davis Cup participation with team captain Lleyton Hewitt recently telling the media that was that there was a ‘50/50’ chance that the 21-year-old will be playing.
Now just three days away from the start of the tie, the Australian believes that he is fully fit and back to playing some of his best tennis.
“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want to play,” he told Tennis Australia.
“I feel ready. I’m playing probably the best tennis I have.”
Elaborating further on the state of his current form, the 21-year-old is aware that there is still a chance that he could miss the tie if his hip pain reoccurs as he starts to intensify his training workouts.
“It’s pretty good. I’ve hit twice since I’ve been here and been going for an hour to an hour and a half,” Kyrgios said.
“Yeah, it’s feeling good and I’m feeling confident with it. It depends on how I’m going this week. I’ll hit again and try and get some volume underneath and see how it pulls up. At the moment there are no signs indicating that it’s not going to pull up well so I’m pretty confident with it.”
Kyrgios is hoping to play in the competition for the first time since the 2015 world group quarter-finals, when Australia defeated Kazakhstan 3-2. Despite his year-long absence from the Davis Cup, he was embroiled in controversy after missing his country’s tie against America. At the time team mate Bernard Tomic accused him of ‘faking’ his illness in order to avoid playing. The comments prompted Kyrgios to write about Tomic’s accusations on Twitter, saying ‘Just don’t expect me to have your back anytime soon’ to Tomic.
The heated confrontation between the two now seems to be long forgotten after Kyrgios recently praised his fellow countryman as well as the rest of his team.
“He’s a great player, with great potential and doing great things,” Kyrgios said about Tomic.
“It’s not only Bernard. Grothy (Sam Groth) has played some great Davis Cup ties. In Darwin, he pretty much saved me. And Peersy (John Peers) is one of the best doubles players in the world.
“It’s not me and Bernard. It’s the whole squad. It’s everyone involved. It means a lot to me being in this chair alongside these guys trying to get back into the World Group.”
The upcoming Davis Cup tie between Australia and Slovakia will take place at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre. The losing team in the tie will be eliminated from the world group.
