Australian Open 2023 – “I hope he will be there, for the good of the sport”: Kyrgios wants to see Djokovic play the tournament

“I hope he will be there for the good of the sport, Kyrgios said. We just saw Roger (Federer), one of those legends, bid farewell to tennis, and no one will ever be able to replace him. As long as Novak and Rafa are still playing, we need these types of players. We want to see the best in the world in Melbourne. As a competitor, I want to see Novak.”

At the start of the year, when Djokovic was forced to leave Australia after an improbable legal imbroglio, Kyrgios was one of the only voices to be raised in his defense. It was then a particularly surprising turnaround as the Aussie had taken pleasure in the past to tickle the former world number 1 at the slightest opportunity. He was particularly acerbic during the episode of the Adria Tour, the exhibition tour organized in the Balkans by the Serb who had turned into a fiasco in the midst of the Covid epidemic in the summer of 2020.

But since then, relations between the two men have warmed considerably. The trophy ceremony at Wimbledon had shown this in particular. “It has been difficult for him over the past nine months: not to play here, here and again there. Let’s hope Australia welcomes him with open arms this time.“, concluded Kyrgios in WA Today.