{"id":444151,"date":"2025-03-19T20:47:55","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T21:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=444151"},"modified":"2025-03-20T00:12:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T00:12:43","slug":"kyrgios-wins-first-match-in-two-and-a-half-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=444151","title":{"rendered":"Kyrgios wins first match in two and a half years"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/person\/nicholas-hilmy-kyrgios-4la\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Nick Kyrgios\">Nick Kyrgios<\/a> has won his first professional <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/tennis\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"tennis\">tennis<\/a> match in two and a half years.<\/p>\n<p>The polarising Aussie talent defeated American Mackenzie McDonald in three sets at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/miami-open-2629\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Miami Open\">Miami Open<\/a> on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n<p>Kyrgios, 29, lost the opening nine points of the match and after being broken in his first service game, looked to his box and complained.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2025-terrell-may-state-of-origin-wests-tigers-form-phil-gould-bulldogs-signing-reveal-exclusive-20250319-p5lkyy.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Phil Gould &#x27;shook hands&#x27; with Origin bolter before deal fell apart\ufeff\"><strong>Phil Gould &#x27;shook hands&#x27; with Origin bolter before deal fell apart\ufeff<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/cricket\/news-2025-usman-khawaja-hamstring-injury-confusion-queensland-cricket-comments-20250319-p5lkxr.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Khawaja&#x27;s stoush with Queensland cricket revealed\"><strong>Khawaja&#x27;s stoush with Queensland cricket revealed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/afl\/news-2025-exclusive-harley-reid-essendon-bombers-recruitment-salary-eddie-mcguire-jimmy-bartel-20250319-p5lkyq.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"McGuire reveals rival&#x27;s $2.5m war chest in hunt for teen star\"><strong>McGuire reveals rival&#x27;s $2.5m war chest in hunt for teen star<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>One commentator noted he &quot;doesn&#x27;t look happy&quot;.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>It looked like being another short stay for the 2022 Wimbledon finalist, but he won the second and third sets to triumph 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"edfe1509-e825-4408-8da4-318a828d96db\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/edfe1509-e825-4408-8da4-318a828d96db\" alt=\"Nick Kyrgios reacts against Mackenzie McDonald at the Miami Open.\" data-width=\"4452\" data-height=\"2504\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It is his first victory since October 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Since then he suffered four defeats &#8211; one when retiring hurt &#8211; and given another opponent a walkover.<\/p>\n<p>He has battled serious injuries since his biggest success, which came at Wimbledon three years ago when he lost the final to Novak Djokovic in four sets.<\/p>\n<p>At the start of this year he won one set at the Brisbane International in what was his comeback from a long-term wrist issue.\ufeff<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsHorn\/status\/1902462234707497181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"embed-social embed-twitter\" data-show-caption=\"false\" data-conversation=\"none\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsHorn\/status\/1902462234707497181?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n<p>He then made it to the Australian Open despite concerns over a side strain, and lost in straight sets to Jacob Fearnley.<\/p>\n<p>At Indian Wells earlier this month he was forced to retire hurt in his first match of the tournament, and many wondered whether he could still be competitive on the ATP Tour.<\/p>\n<p>When he won match point against McDonald on Thursday the relief on his face was clear.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;\ufeffThe wait is over,&quot; the commentator said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;\ufeffThat has been a long time coming, that will taste so so sweet.<\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6370246801112\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/pickerimage-25.jpg\" alt=\"Kyrgios complains after early break\" data-vms-id=\"ref:cm8gem4gx00040hmu6pzmgg0s\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;After all the dark days, the hard work, the rehab\ufeff&#8230; and he played some good stuff along the way too.&quot;\ufeff<\/p>\n<p>The Aussie spoke post-match and confirmed how &quot;special&quot;\ufeff the victory was.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;\ufeffThe way my wrist has pulled up the last six months hasn&#x27;t been great,&quot; Kyrgios said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;\ufeffI guess having one win against Mac, I had something to draw from experience, but he&#x27;s such a good player, he&#x27;s so tricky and he definitely caught me off guard.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I walked on the court and I wasn&#x27;t used to that ball speed again.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;\ufeffIt&#x27;s been a long journey, even to get to the start line of matches and being unable to finish them. But to come and get a win and feel like I belong again, it&#x27;s pretty special.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"98103903-6486-4095-8d0f-255785d248bd\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/98103903-6486-4095-8d0f-255785d248bd\" alt=\"Nick Kyrgios speaks after his win in Miami.\" data-width=\"1920\" data-height=\"1080\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;I thought I would never play tennis again, to be brutally honest, and it was going that way.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;\ufeffI&#x27;ve had conversations with my camp, my team, guys who are leaving their families to come here and help me get to the court&#8230; I was like &#x27;look, I don&#x27;t know how long I can keep doing this for&#x27;.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;This puts a bit more petrol in the tank, but I need to be realistic\ufeff, I&#x27;ll see how my wrist pulls up tomorrow.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Kyrgios will face powerful Russian player Karen Khachanov\ufeff next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Nick Kyrgios has won his first professional tennis match in two and a half years. The polarising Aussie talent defeated American Mackenzie McDonald in three <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=444151\" title=\"Kyrgios wins first match in two and a half years\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":444153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=444151"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":444157,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444151\/revisions\/444157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/444153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=444151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=444151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=444151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}