Nick Kyrgios shows his emotions after pulling off a huge win in New York comeback match

Nick Kyrgios admitted he feared he had played competitive tennis for the final time after making an emotional comeback at the UTS New York event.

Patrick Mouratoglou took his fast-paced version of tennis to New York days before the US Open and with all of the game’s top players in town, he established a stellar line-up of talent at the history Forest Hills Stadium.

Alex de Minaur, Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas were among the star names taking part, but it was Kyrgios who stole the show, as he produced an impressive display to beat world No 8 Casper Ruud.

“I wasn’t expecting to play this well at all,” said Kyrgios in response to the 17-8, 21-9, 15-11 victory over Ruud. “Coming out here and still having that level, it’s amazing. What a way to come back.

“Obviously pretty emotional, it’s been a brutal 11 months. I didn’t know if I was going to play tennis again with the state of my wrist. It was literally conversations of never playing again.”

The Australian declared that he was “surprised, but not that surprised” at his level at UTS New York and is pleased with how his wrist held up in his first match of the year.

“I’ve been putting in some serious work, every single day back home,” he added. “Casper’s probably one of the best players in the world, so one of the best ways to test my wrist. Let’s see if we can string a couple of matches together.”

It remains to be seen whether this appearance at an exhibition event is the start of a full comeback for Kyrgios, but his presence back in tennis would be welcome heading into 2025.

He had hinted he would play some doubles tournaments at the back end of this year to test out his troublesome wrist, with this tentative step back into the spotlight a positive sign of what may be to come for the 29-year-old.

Fellow Australian De Minaur also started well in New York, sweeping Denis “Shapo” Shapovalov 3-0 and for the year-end final in London, guaranteeing he will finish in the top three of the UTS Race this year.

Stefanos “El Greco” Tsitsipas wasn’t so lucky, with the former World No 3 losing in sudden death to Bublik, who became the second man in UTS history to steal a quarter, while Monfils stunned two-time champion Andrey “Rublo” Rublev in the biggest upset of the day.

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Bublik also produced some amazing tennis on Thursday, with the UTS veteran putting on a clutch display of serving against Tsitsipas.

With the pair winning two quarters each, the third quarter-final of the day headed to sudden death. What resulted was a UTS-record: the longest-ever sudden death decider.

To determine a winner, one player simply had to win two points in a row. It took a total of seven match points for The Bublik Enemy to be crowned the winner, with the Kazakh prevailing 5-3 over Tsitsipas thanks to some audacious serving.

“The most nervous match I’ve ever played in my life,” he said after winning the match.

“This was crazy, it was a rollercoaster. So tense. I’ve played some big finals in my life, but nothing like this.

“The sudden death killed me, it took five years off my life.”

“I don’t know why – it’s not an official Tour match, there’s no points on the line, but for me, I feel such a need to win in this format.

“I felt more tension in this match than when I was serving for the Halle final.”

UTS New York – results summary

● De Minaur (1) beat Shapovalov: 3-0 (17-16, 19-13, 19-13)

● Kyrgios beat Ruud (2): 3-0 (17-8, 21-9, 15-11)

● Bublik beat Tsitsipas (4): 3-2 (20-12, 11-17, 18-17, 10-20, 5-3)

● Monfils beat Rublev (3): 3-0 (19-12, 15-10, 18-14)