Nick Kyrgios has been enjoying the Australian Open from a different perspective this year, joining Eurosport’s commentary box after he was forced to pull out of the tournament injured. The former world No. 13 has played just one singles match in the last 15 months and recently admitted he could be out until the grass season. Fellow Eurosport pundit Alex Corretja believes that Kyrgios could make a statement on his return, telling Express Sport that the Aussie can challenge for the Wimbledon title again after facing Novak Djokovic in the 2022 final. 

Kyrgios enjoyed a career-best season in 2022, reaching his first Grand Slam singles final at the All England Club and picking up the Australian Open men’s doubles trophy with Thanasi Kokkinakis. He also won his seventh career singles title in Washington and made his ATP Finals debut in the doubles but has since been derailed by a knee injury.

The 28-year-old returned for one match last year, losing in the first round in Stuttgart and picking up a new wrist injury. Kyrgios has been sidelined ever since, recently trading tennis for the commentary box after joining Eurosport’s team at Melbourne Park. While Kyrgios has been entertaining his fellow pundits with anecdotes about sending memes to Novak Djokovic, one of his colleagues is hoping to see him mount a successful comeback this summer.

The seven-time title winner has already revealed that he was targeting the grass swing for his return. And Corretja is backing Kyrgios to have another deep run at Wimbledon with the right amount of effort. “Nick is such a talented guy, probably one of the most on the tour, that as soon as he will be healthy, I think he could recover his game,” the Spaniard told Express Sport.

“I can’t say easily but why not? He goes with the flow, he’s not a robot. He just goes, he plays, whatever he feels, he does it. Under the arm, between the legs, he does it. His serve is, I don’t know if it’s the best on tour but nearly. His forehand has been good, his backhand has been improving.”

However, Corretja knew that it wouldn’t come easy for Kyrgios, encouraging the Australian to work hard leading up to his return. The former world No. 2, who is also part of Eurosport and discovery+’s team during their live coverage of the Australian Open, said Kyrgios needed to be physically ready to sustain his level over seven best-of-five-set matches.

The two-time French Open finalist added: “He needs to be healthy and he needs to be fit physically on tennis. You can play good tennis but you need to be very strong physically and nowadays everybody is so strong and they put you to the limit so if he is not ready for that, then he will struggle.