DELRAY BEACH, Fla.—Nick Kyrgios arrived in Delray Beach this week, where he was the top seed at the ATP 250, with confidence, high hopes and lots of friends.
But ahead of his first match on Tuesday night against Tommy Paul, Kyrgios withdrew with a wrist injury. He remains in the doubles draw, with good friend Jordan Thompson, but Thompson retired while down against Miomir Kecmanovic.
"I'm dealing with a little bit of a left wrist injury; been dealing with it for the last week or so," Kyrgios said on Monday. "Some sort of tendon thing. Apart from that feeling pretty good."
And while he'd probably rather be playing basketball (there's an indoor court for players on site), he might be getting his fill of team sports this week by playing doubles.
"I love playing doubles just because I feel like you play singles every week you kind of lose the fun aspect of it," the Australian said. "Doubles is a bit more light hearted. I love being out there in the team environment."
"It helps my singles, my volleys, my returns, my serve. I think it's a vital aspect of tennis."
His basketball-loving storyline is certainly old, but Kyrgios' NBA jersey collection is constantly giving us something new.
In press, he wore a Miami Heat jersey, but for practice with Jack Sock he started in a San Antonio Spurs shirt.