Nick Kyrgios promises he’ll be back hitting on a tennis court again next week and is adamant he’s got the fire in his belly to make a successful return to the big time after his nightmare year.

The former Wimbledon finalist, who has only played one match on the ATP Tour since October 2022 while suffering with knee and wrist injuries that required surgery, has offered the most encouraging update yet on a prospective return in an interview on the AO Show podcast.

“I’ll be back on court soon and I’ll give you a little bit more to cheer about, that’s for sure,” the 28-year-old said, when asked if he had a message for his fans.

“It’s arguably been one of the hardest years of my life tennis wise,” the Australian conceded after his best year in 2022 was followed by an injury-hit, write-off of a campaign in 2023.

“Everything else has been amazing, I can’t complain about anything else. But tennis wise, I’ve had some really hard conversations with myself … like why am I doing all this? Like I don’t have to do it, but I’m doing it for some reason.

“So I know there’s still fire in the belly, which is good.”

In between rehabilitating, Kyrgios has enjoyed other projects, including a successful spell at the Australian Open as a tennis commentator on Eurosport, but says he’s keen to get back to his day job.

“I’m hitting for the first time next week, so as soon as I get back out on court, I guess it’s just going to be starting up, getting that load back through my wrist and my body,” he said.

“But look, I definitely will be coming back. It’s just hard to put an exact date on it because the injury was quite severe.

“I’m getting to the point of my career where I know that I’ve had a lot of success and many athletes don’t even have a quarter the success of that, so it’s selfish for me to come back and demand to be making Wimbledon finals again.

“I’m going to take my time, come back and just enjoy being back out there.”

– AAP