Nick Kyrgios claps back at insider over report of him being missing from the commentary team at the Australian Open

Former Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios made his much-awaited tennis return at the Brisbane International event in the 2025 season. The Australian is all set to play the first Major of the year, the Australian Open.

On the ATP Tour, Kyrgios missed the better part of the last two seasons. The former World No. 13 suffered a wrist injury in 2022 that required extensive surgical procedures to repair, which resulted in him taking an extended break from the sport.

During his injury break, the Aussie found a seat for himself in the world of tennis commentary, especially at the Grand Slams. During the 2024 Australian Open, he joined the Europsport and Espn commentary teams and brought his unique perspective as a modern-day player to the commentary box.

However, ahead of the 2025 Australian Open, John Wertheim pointed out that Kyrgios's name was absent from the ESPN broadcasting team.

"Read into this what you will, but Nick Kyrgios will *not* be part of the ESPN @AustralianOpen 2025 broadcast team". posted Wertheim on X (formerly Twitter).

Kyrgios was quick to respond to this, stating that his absence was obvious as he was all set up to play in Melbourne this time around, in both singles and doubles.

"Uhhhh because I’m playing singles and doubles - slow media day huh" posted Kyrgios on X (formerly Twitter)

Kyrgios had his preparations for Melbourne at the Brisbane International. In singles, he lost in the first round to rising French star Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in a three-set serving contest. Kyrgios teamed up with Novak Djokovic at the doubles but lost in the second round to the team of Michael Venus and Nikola Mektic.

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Kyrgios has had more success in doubles than in singles at the Australian Open

Nick Kyrgios is a player who thrives on crowd support and brings out his best tennis. Surprisingly enough, he has not been able to take that advantage while playing in front of his home crowd at the Australian Open. In singles, the Aussie had a modest 17-9 record from 9 participations. His best run came in 2015, when he reached the quarterfinal, losing to Andy Murray.

However, one of Kyrgios's career highlights came at the Australian Open, when he won the men's doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis in 2022. The Aussie pair played enthralling tennis throughout the competition, thriving under the crowd support and winning against another Aussie pair of Matt Ebden and Max Purcell.

Kyrgios had expressed his desire to play both singles and doubles at the upcoming Australian Open, but it remains to be seen who would be his doubles partner.