Nick Kyrgios makes return to tennis after Olympic Games snub

Nick Kyrgios has returned to competitive tennis for the first time since his shock decision to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics.

The Australian surprised fans when he announced he would not be competing in Tokyo and would instead by playing an ATP tournament in America at the same time the Games are on.

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Kyrgios was originally named as part of the Australia’s Olympic tennis team, but he decided to withdraw the Games.

He was reluctant to play at the Olympics if it meant playing in front of no fans.

“If I’m going to play my first ever Olympics, I want to do it the right way. I want to do it in front of packed stadiums,” Kyrgios told news.com.au.

“You think about the Olympics, you think about packed stadiums, everyone watching different sports, all the athletes creating memories together. That’s the way I want to do it.

“I don’t want to remember my first Olympics with no crowd there – I’m not able to watch the Dream Team or anything like that, which I want to do so much.

“Hopefully I can play the next Olympics in three years.”

The Australian is instead playing at the Atlanta Open — the first tournament Kyrgios has played since his entertaining run ended at Wimbledon earlier this month.

The 26-year-old retired hurt from his third round Wimbledon match with an abdomen injury.

Nick Kyrgios isn’t regretting his decision to skip the Tokyo Olympics. (Photo by Casey Sykes/Getty Images)Source:Getty Images

But Kyrgios showed no signs of pain in his first singles match since then, defeating Kevin Anderson 7-6 6-3 in a dominant display on Wednesday (AEST), as he looks to win the Atlanta title for the second time after he triumphed there in 2016.

Kyrgios was dominant on serve as usual and didn’t concede a single break point against the big-serving South African.

The pair went blow-for-blow in the first set, with Kyrgios edging ahead to win the first-set tie-break 7-4.

The Canberran was up to his usual antics — arguing line calls with the umpire, hitting tweeners between his legs and asking fans where he should hit his powerful serves.

Kyrgios was exceptional in the second set, breaking Anderson’s serve in the ninth game before going on to close out the match.

“Kevin is no easy opponent — obviously, a finalist at grand slams,” he said on court after match.

“He knows how to win matches, his serve is one of the best in the world, so I knew today was going to be incredibly tough.”

Kyrgios was happy with his performance and clearly wasn’t regretting his decision to skip the Olympics in favour of the tournament in Atlanta.

“I haven’t played too many matches but I was serving well,” he said.

“I just love playing here to be honest. I don’t play too much tennis in general to be fair.”

Kyrgios will next face Britain’s Cameron Norrie in the round of 16.

He is also playing doubles in Atlanta with American Jack Sock and they won their opening match 6-1 6-3 on Tuesday.

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