Following a prolonged absence from tennis due to injury, speculation is mounting that sporting star Nick Kyrgios will make his long-awaited return to the court at next year’s Australian Open.

Kyrgios has been ravaged by wrist and knee injuries over the past two years, competing in just one tour singles match since October 2022. However, he has reportedly ramped up his training recently

While promoting the tournament, Australian Open CEO Craig Tiley revealed that he expects to “see Nick on the court playing” in January.

“We would love to have Nick back playing in 2025, we believe he will be,” Tiley said.

“He’s out there practising, playing, been in touch with his team over the last couple days, and he’s fully expecting to play, and we expect to see Nick on the court playing.

“The confidence that we get about Nick playing is that in his preparation, we know he’s doing more than he’s done before.

“We know that he wants to do it. We know that he’s mentally preparing to get ready to play in January. He’s got to be physically healthy to do that.

“No player wants to walk onto the court unless they know they can be in a position where they can win and Nick knows, as a team with Tennis Australia, we’d love to see him on the court.

“So we fully expect to see him.”

While Tiley is confident that Kyrgios will be back on the court for the Australian Open, tennis legend Lleyton Hewitt questioned “whether the body can hold up”.

“He’s certainly been on the practice court playing more than I’ve seen in the last year and a half,” Hewitt said.

“He’s still got to get over the niggles obviously, and even when you start to up your practice and being able to push through those setbacks as well.

“He’s certainly doing a lot more stuff, it’s just whether the body can hold up.”

Given the work Kyrgios has put into training of late, Hewitt believes Kyrgios should be in the main draw but it would take time to return to form.

“It’s tough and probably the biggest challenge he’s ever faced,” he said.

“To have a setback, especially of that amount of time now as well, and the game keeps improving, the guys keep taking it to new levels as well.

“For him to come in and obviously try and play, there’s a number of players in the draw which, if he goes out there and plays his best tennis, he’ll be able to take care of in straight sets, but there’s going to be a lot of guys that are going to be able to push him.

“And how he responds to that, obviously, by not doing it for the last couple of years – that’s not only (tough) physically, it’s a mental challenge as well.”

Kyrgios himself has previously hinted at his long-awaited return to the tennis court, recently telling fans he’s preparing to give them something “to cheer about”.

During an appearance on The AO Show podcast earlier this year, the former Wimbledon finalist announced that he is eager to reignite his career.

“I’ll be back on court soon and I’ll give you a little bit more to cheer about, that’s for sure,” the 29-year-old said.

“It’s arguably been one of the hardest years of my life tennis wise.

“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.”

-with AAP.