His first instinct may have been to rib Andy Murray but Nick Kyrgios says he can feel for the battling ex-world No.1 after overcoming his own hip injury dramas.
Australian No.1 Kyrgios joined the chorus of well wishers to throw their support behind the three-time grand slam champion after his good mate Murray’s emotional Brisbane International withdrawal.
Serious doubts have been raised over Murray’s future after the 30-year-old posted a heartfelt social media post on Tuesday night revealing how much he was “really hurting inside” after pulling out of Brisbane with a hip injury that has plagued him for six months.
World No.21 Kyrgios said he had been moved by the message from his close friend – but only after resisting the urge to stir Murray over the childhood picture that accompanied the post.
Murray included a shot of himself as a schoolboy because “the little kid inside me just wants to play tennis and compete” – much to Kyrgios’ initial amusement.
“He tends to rip me a little bit on Instagram,” Kyrgios said after overcoming a knee scare to down compatriot Matthew Ebden and move into the Brisbane quarterfinals.
“I was going to maybe take a low blow at the picture but, nah, I thought it was a good time to maybe show some sympathy.
“But, yeah, it was emotional. I read the whole thing.
“I’m sure a lot of people want to see him back at the top of the game.”
World No.16 Murray has not played a tour match since the Wimbledon quarterfinals in July.
The dual Wimbledon winner is reportedly mulling over whether to contest the Sydney International or play an exhibition event in Melbourne before the Australian Open starting on January 15.
But the UK press were quick to speculate whether the end was nigh for Murray.
Kyrgios could empathise with Murray after overcoming his own ongoing hip complaint that cut short his 2017 season last October.
“He brings a lot of the people to all these tournaments and he’s a good friend of mine,” he said.
“It’s just sad seeing a guy like that getting injured.”
Murray said he would contemplate surgery on his troublesome hip after finding it “quite demoralising” that it had not responded to months of rehabilitation.
Kyrgios said the prospect of surgery was “very scary” for a player.
“I don’t think anyone ever really wants to get cut open – that’s the absolute last resort,” he said.
“You don’t really know the success rate of anything like that so it’s tough – it’s very scary.”
