After six weeks on the sidelines due to a right elbow injury, Nick Kyrgios rejoined the tour at the Miami Open a few weeks ago, making it to the fourth round of the tournament. And on Wednesday night the Australian made a triumphant start to his second tournament back, rallying from a set down to beat American Bjorn Fratangelo in his opening match at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston.
Kyrgios’ injury lay-off came at the most inopportune time—he was off to an excellent start to the 2018 season, winning Brisbane and extending his winning streak to seven matches in a row to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open (where he fell to Grigor Dimitrov). He almost got back to his career-high ranking, too—he went from No. 21 to No. 14 in that time, one off his career-best No. 13.
He played Davis Cup the week after the Australian Open but then had to withdraw from four straight tournaments—Rotterdam, Delray Beach, Acapulco and Indian Wells—with the hurt right elbow.
In Miami, Kyrgios was just hoping to get his groove back, but he ended up showing much more than that—he even beat fellow Top 20 player Fabio Fognini before falling to then-No. 5 Alexander Zverev.
“You know, I came to [Miami] not really expecting too much,” Kyrgios said. “I’ve obviously been struggling with injury. A couple of days before the tournament I was having back spasms, so I’ve been nowhere close to 100%. And still beating these guys is a good confidence boost for me.”
Match point from Kyrgios' win over Fratangelo in Houston:
