The 2025 Miami Open is now into full swing, and one of the more noteworthy first round wins came on Wednesday as Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist, won his first match since October 6, 2022. On the stadium court, Kyrgios defeated Mackenzie McDonald of the United States 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
A major reason why Kyrgios of Canberra had so much success on Wednesday came down to the serve. Kyrgios had 13 aces compared to seven for McDonald. Kyrgios also broke McDonald three times in seven chances and won 84 points compared to 75 for McDonald.
Kyrgios’s last win on the ATP Tour came in the second round of the 2022 Rakuten Japan Open. Kyrgios beat Kamil Majchrzak of Poland, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Kyrgios then withdrew from the tournament where he was set to face eventual champion Taylor Fritz of the United States because of a knee injury.
Over the last three years, Kyrgios has been dealing with various injuries to his ankle, knee and wrist. The wrist injury came when he was trying to fend off a burglar during a family robbery, where his car was stolen and his mother was held at gunpoint. Kyrgios’s wrist gave him problems during the first round of the Indian Wells tournament, a match personally attended by yours truly. It was the first time I had seen Kyrgios play live, and he was beaten 7-6, 3-0.
Kyrgios was unable to keep his momentum in the second round as he was beaten 7-6, 6-0 by Karen Khachanov of Russia on Friday. There are five Australian men left in the draw. They are Alex de Minaur, Alexei Popyrin and Jordan Thompson of Sydney, Adam Walton of Brisbane, and Rinky Hijikata of Sydney.
