Nick Kyrgios making tennis comeback THIS week – and he’s playing for big money

Nick Kyrgios has given numerous hints and been through plenty of false starts in his bid to come back to tennis, but his return to the court has finally been confirmed.

The Aussie maverick played just one match last year and has not been seen on the ATP Tour in 2024, with his future in the sport very much in doubt.

The 29-year-old has hinted he may play in doubles matches as he builds up to a full return to action and now it has been confirmed that he will be back on court in front of a crowd for the first time THIS WEEK as he takes part in the UTS New York event.

UTS is a fast-paced exhibition event designed to take tennis to a younger audience and brought to the game by coaching great Patrick Mouratoglou.

UTS New York takes place at the legendary Forest Hills Stadium, the site of the US Open Tennis Championships for 60 years, on Thursday and Friday of this week and while Kygrios has been on the entry list for some time, there have been some doubts over whether he will play.

Kyrgios has pulled out of other UTS events as he battles his injury concerns over the last 18 months, but he has been back in court to fine-tune his preparation for the event in recent days and this could now be a pivotal moment in his plans for the future.

With the event taking place in the same city as the final major tournament of the year, a stellar line-up has been assembled by tournament chief and coaching guru Patrick Mouratoglou, as he brings his brash brand of tennis to the Big Apple.

Stefanos Tsitsipas will play Alexander Bublik on the opening day of action, while Alex de Minaur will take on Denis Shapovalov in what should be an eye-catching encounter.

Andrey Rublev and Gael Monfils are also set to square off in what will be an emotional match between two players who rarely hold back on court.

Yet it is the expected appearance of Kyrgios that will intrigue tennis fans, as he has been drawn to play against Casper Ruud on day one of UTS New York.

“I know it’s been a long time,” Kyrgios announced on social media.

“But my body is finally ready to get back on the field and have some fun. I’m going to see if I can still compete against some of the best players in the world, starting with my old rival, Casper Ruud.

“Casper, please go easy on me. I can’t wait to get out there, in front of all these amazing fans, and hope that I can still bring some life to the game.”

Kyrgios will play Ruud in the second match on the UTS schedule on Thursday, with fellow Aussie De Minaur taking on Canada’s Shapovalov in the opening match.

The quick-fire format of UTS will ease Kyrgios back into action as matches are played over four quarters of eight minutes, with a huge prize pot of $1million up for grabs for the players.

The UTS New York champion will take home $301,000, with $161,000 for the runner-up and $113,000 for both semi-finalists.

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Mouratoglou spoke to Tennis365 about the potential of his UTS product, as he hopes it will take the sport to a new audience.

“I think it is much more interesting to have two different products in tennis,” Mouratoglou told Tennis365.

“Some of the core tennis fans will watch UTS, but we are attracting a new audience.

“If you look through the figures of the fans we have reached over the last few weeks, the average age of our fans is 30 and 50 per cent of our fans are not always watching tennis regularly. That is our goal.

“So if we have two completely different products with two different goals it could work. We could operate at the weekends when qualification is on for tournaments, so maybe the top players could play ahead of the main events. There is a lot of opportunities.”

WHAT IS UTS?

* Match played over four 8-minute quarters.

* The 1st player to win 3 QTS wins the match. If both players are tied at 2 QTs apiece, the 5th QT is played in a ‘Sudden Death’ format*

* The ‘Sudden Death’ is a dramatic cliffhanger where the first player to win two consecutive points wins the match. Every point from the second point onwards is a match point during the Sudden Death.

* During the quarter, Players serve two points each: player A serves for two points, then player B serves for two points, then player A serves for two points again.

* UTS players are allowed one serve only per point: missing the serve results in losing the point.

* Also, the ‘No-Let’ rule during serve will be in effect.

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