2022 may very well be remembered as the beginning of Kyrgios’ second act in tennis. One where he completely dedicated himself to the delight of tennis fans all around the world. There have been other notable second acts in tennis. Most recently, Wawrinka had a second act. Before then it would be Agassi with the second act.

As many can recall, Wawrinka was inconsistent and temperamental during the first half of his tennis career and hovered between the 15th and 20th best player in the world. It wasn’t until he was about 28 years old that he was able to put it all together. He would go on to win three Grand Slams and finish the year in the top 10 five years in a row between 2013 and 2020.

Andre Agassi’s story included inconsistency and temperament as well. However, Andre still had a stellar career before the second act. Nevertheless, his recommitment to tennis at the age of 28 resulted in five additional Grand Slams for a player that had been considered washed up by the age of 27.

In comes Nick Kyrgios around 2014, and begins his career by defeating Nadal, Djokovic and Federer the first time they would meet. At age 21 he would get as high as 13 in the world. Most people pegged him to take over the ATP. However, it would not be. Although he would show flashes of brilliance during the first half of his career, his temperament and dedication would be put in question. Many thought he was wasting away his potential. Then came the pandemic and most of tennis paused for a whole year in 2020. The following year, 2021, was kind of a wash as well. Both those years Nick played very little tennis and many people thought he would fade away into tennis obscurity. In late 2021 he even fell out of the top 100 for a brief period of time.

It seems that Nick had other plans. He came into 2022 with a new perspective and renewed dedication. He also looked leaner and fitter than he’d ever been. Although he decided not to play the full schedule, in the tournaments that he would play, he would routinely make the quarters, semis, and finals. It is for this reason that even though he did not receive any points for his Wimbledon finals run, he now finds himself firmly in the top 20 in the world. If these results continue, there’s no reason for Nick to be ranked well inside the top 10 in a few months’ time. Let’s take a look a some of his accomplishments thus far this season:

That’s a hell of a season so far. He’s still got two tournaments left that he’ll be playing so he’ll most definitely add to his prize money and ranking. At the moment it looks like Nick may be targeting a top-16 seed at the Australian Open. He will likely get it.

In the meantime, he’s signed on to Naomi Osaka’s talent agency and resigned from his endorsement deal with Nike.

Like always, don’t forget to jump on to the TennisPAL app to stay up to date on tennis news, find groups of friends to play with, and get a virtual coach to help with your tennis game.