Nick Kyrgios is 30 year old now and ranked 651 in the world. In 2025 he has won a grand total of one singles match and one doubles match and he has not played since Miami.
Nick is 1-4 on the year in singles with the one win coming at Miami Open first round vs Mackenzie McDonald 64 in the third. He then lost second round to Karen Khachanov 67 16 and that was the last time he competed on the ATP World Tour.
The only doubles match Nick won came in Brisbane in the last week of December 2024, a 10-8 in the third set win with Novak Djokovic vs Erler and Mies. The dynamic duo lost 2r 10-8 in the third set breaker to Venus and Mektic.
Kyrgios attempted to play Washington DC with Gael Monfils but they lost 1R 26 26 to Nys and Vasselin. He’s 1-3 on the year in doubles for $18,918 in prize money.
For going 1-4 in singles Kyrgios earned $148,316 with the bulk of that amount coming for the first round AO loss to Jacob Fearnley 67 36 67.
Kyrgios has not announced any comeback plans but his next match supposedly will be in Hong Kong against Aryna Sabalenka later this year. Nick’s “World Tour”, which he announced on his podcast “Good Trouble With Nick Kyrgios” in May was canceled.
The enigmatic former world no. 13 may go down in history as the biggest waste of talent the sport ever saw.
ATP · Nick Kyrgios · Novak Djokovic · Wimbledon
Andrew Miller · September 7, 2025 at 2:45 pm
Kyrgios pulls a Rios. Rios was about 79x more talented but Kyrgios had the kind of serve and unpredictability that could or should have put him in slam finals a la Ivanisevic. Amazing that De Minaur and others will go down in Australia tennis history as better players than Kyrgios, because Kyrgios just didn’t care.
Scoop Malinowski · September 7, 2025 at 3:46 pm
Andrew, Kyrgios played maybe the finest tennis set ever played in the first set of the Wimbledon final vs Djokovic, he was so devastating he made Novak look like a qualifier. Then out of nowhere even in the second set Nick suddenly got upset with his box for insufficient cheering. He then argued with them after points repeatedly and then lost control of the set and match. Or maybe he took a dive and that was his cue. Nick can’t win anymore, he trained very hard for 2025, I got inside info on that, but his efforts on the practice courts produced no results. His confidence tank is empty. He will blame injuries to protect his ego and image though. Blend Rios and Nick’s diverse talents with the mind of Djokovic and there’s your first and only unbeatable player.
Andrew Miller · September 7, 2025 at 8:43 pm
Kyrgios is another mad genius. Another infuriating talent. I think they get very bored with a sport that’s too easy for them. Kyrgios was wild in his statements, that he never expected to be in position to be a champion then at the same time to not want to be there at all – a parallel would be Agassi or Baghdatis. Neither of whom wanted to be out there either. Australia definitely had produced a few players like this – for every Ash Barty who can hit a zillion kinds of shots while keeping her head on straight, or a Kokkinakis. Blessed by talent plagued by injury. There are a few Tomics or Kyrgios types with talent coming out of their ears that just don’t want to be there.
Such is tennis. And that’s true we may never see shots hit like Kyrgios, or Rios (absolutely not like Rios – players looking to up their games could do worse than watch Rios or Nalbandian, or any one of these players who played unscripted tennis). Apart from a few players.
Scoop i really liked this Safiullin player. Wish I heard of him earlier.
Andrew Miller · September 7, 2025 at 8:46 pm
Ivanisevic was another mad genius. I’d put Kafelnikov there too, maybe Kafelnikov because his tennis was another example of ridiculous ability. The great thing about this sport. For every champion that bores to tears there is a wild card like Kafelnikov that does something you haven’t seen for a while.
Scoop Malinowski · September 7, 2025 at 8:59 pm
Kyrgios at one time early in his career, was a normal aspiring hungry player. I saw this in Sarasota Open when he won. He did everything by the book, stayed humble, quiet, worked hard, stayed in the background, won the title. He had junior slam success. Then he adapted quickly to pros and rose to 13 in the world. Then THE EXPECTATIONS came. Then THE PRESSURE TO WIN came. He was expected to win and be the next big Aussie. He did not like that pressure and expectation and rebelled against it by becoming a slacker type. Jack Sock, his pal, also managed his career the same way, very very sloppy work ethic and practice habits. The polar opposite of workhorses like Thiem and Ferrer. That was their undoing. They lost their statuses, they lot their A plus games and could never get it back, even when they decided to dedicate. Classic too little too late, Tomic is also in this category with Philippoussis. It’s a shame these mega talents didn’t fulfill their vast potential. One of the sad riddles of the sport, the classic wasted talent enigmas. Rios did not waste his magical talent, he worked very hard to get to the the top. But something happened when he did, the fire inside the belly lost a fraction of flicker, and that’s all it takes for the decline to begin. Nalbandian did not waste his talent either, his best tennis came at different times, his favorite major tournament was Davis Cup. If there was a Grand Slam in Buenos Aires, I think Nalbandian would have won four there. I’m serious. He was a different player for Argentina.
Scoop Malinowski · September 7, 2025 at 9:00 pm
Andrew, I have seen Safiullin a few times, he didn’t stand out to me, he seemed a basic regular player, bland personality, like a Basilashvili type. What sparked your interest in Roman Safiullin?
Andrew Miller · September 7, 2025 at 11:41 pm
Safiullin has a nice,compact game. Might be seeing so much Agassi that I can tell when someone’s backhand resembles his – I don’t know enough about the guy! Tennis is funny, it can be tough to figure out what someone’s good at without a contrast (eg Navratilova vs Graf, Seles vs Graf, Williams vs Henin, etc). Tennis is a game of match-ups etc.
Just caught some Sinner Alcaraz. YAWN! Sinner is definitely the very fast Gumby version of Tom Berdych with more of a live arm on serve.
Not sure why so much love for these two. I guess everyone loves a winner. In Tennis the top players over time create their own rivals so I’m guessing someone fills the void soon. Other players would have already done so, but they seem to be making some mistakes.
Among them not adding to their games. Such as Andrei Rublev. He will hit thr racquet out of someone’s hand. And that is about it.
Cory · September 8, 2025 at 7:59 am
When thinking of enigmatic players – guys with unreal talent but either poor attitude or poor worth ethic – i gotta mention Dustin Brown. A poor man’s Kyrgios to be fair, but what a player in flashes. Any comment Scoop?
Cory · September 8, 2025 at 8:01 am
Well, I shouldn’t say Brown had either bad attitude or work ethic – i don’t know that – i presume that based on the lack of bridge between what i saw as top 20 talent and top 100-200 results.
Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2025 at 8:25 am
Andrew, Safiullin more reminds of Andrei Cherkasov with his machine like efficiency and reliable backhand and also stoic demeanor, though I have only seen Safiullin play a few times. Carlos Sinner rivalry is boring despite the high level of ball striking and movement. Sinner gets really low with his legs for every ball, stays so low. Carlos has a little extra firepower and dimension right now. And he has a more sellable personality/character. Sinner computer needs a new personality software. Let’s hope the Djokovic third wheel enters the Carlos Sinner rivalry plot soon. But Fonseca Draper have fallen off backwards lately. Mensik looks like another Mensik, Tien has a ways to go. Mpetschi Perricard has the weapons but it takes more than that.
Matt Segel · September 8, 2025 at 8:44 am
Krygios became a character. He appropriated black culture to become a woke figure who used that image to mock and intimidate players not used to his antics. In some ways it was effective and he was a great self promoter.
His undoing was injuries. He’s a big guy and big guys often experience injuries due to the weight putting pressure on their joints. Tennis is a physical sport.
I dislike the character that is Nick Krygios but tennis is good when there are dislikeable characters.
He was talented but when he had the health zone (18-26) he didn’t work hard then he got injured and worked hard but it was too late.
I only wish Sinner got to play him so JS could have toyed and destroyed him.
Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2025 at 8:46 am
Cory, Dustin Brown was a phenom for a while, he made his breakthrough at a later age too, I was there when it happened too, he shocked top seed and 19 in the world Querrey in Newport 2010 right after Sam had a run to R16 at Wimbledon (lost to Murray) 64 63, I had never heard of Brown before. Brown was ranked 108 at the time and 25 years old when he beat QBall in Newport and his career took off after this win. Got to 64 in the world and even beat Rafa at Wimbledon with one of the most stunning tennis displays ever produced. It was a masterpiece of mayhem and Rafa didnt know what hit him, all those passing shots and volley winners. That one afternoon of tennis magic by Brown was far more exciting than any Carlos vs Sinner match. Brown may be the greatest most creative, outside the box player in ATP history. Nobody in ATP will ever play like Dustin Brown again. Nobody can even imitate that.
Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2025 at 8:49 am
Cory, I watched Brown play and also practice, in Sarasota a few years ago he was there for doubles and all I saw him doing was practicing ripping returns. I don’t think he had the physicality or the head or the patience to be 30 shot rally grinder. He played tennis his way and got to 64 in the world and engineered a masterpiece performance on a Grand Slam stadium court that nobody who saw it will ever forget. Brown might have won ten Grand Slams if he was in the 60 70s era where his aggressive attacking style would have been more suited.
Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2025 at 11:17 am
Matt, Agree, Nick became a cartoon character but disagree that injuries were his downfall, Djokovic implied it was his lack of discipline. I think he used injuries as a crutch to pardon the slumps and losses, like Raducanu and many others do. If Kyrgios had the head and work ethic and drive of Djokovic and Rafa he could have won about ten majors. But instead he had the mind and discipline of a mediocre junior. Still, he was a sensation and gave the sport many unforgettable moments. His results were largely a failure overall but he made tennis better with his showmanship and good relations with fans especially kids who loved him.
Scoop Malinowski · September 8, 2025 at 11:28 am
Love Goran and how he won Wimbledon in style but also would have been nice to see Rafter win, hard to go against Rafter or Goran, wish they both won. I still remember the first time seeing the unknown Kafelnikov giving Sampras big trouble at the Australian Open early rounds, playing on even terms with the world no. 1. No fear. I was told a funny story about Kafelnikov, he and another player’s coach made a friendly bet $50 on Max Mirnyi vs Mike or Bob Bryan in Washington DC. Mirnyi killed him and Kafel was on his way out to stadium for his match and saw this coach and stopped to collect the $50!