Despite Rafael Nadal’s Desperate Attempts to Regain Fitness, Nick Kyrgios Paints a Saddening Picture of the Spanish Legend’s Future

Rafael Nadal returned to tennis in the Brisbane International and made fans happy with his performance. The dream would unfortunately not last for long as the King of Clay got injured and withdrew from the Australian Open in hopes of saving himself for the future. Nick Kyrgios, who is commentating for the Australian Open, was saddened at the state of Rafa. The Aussie player echoed the feelings of other tennis experts and made a saddening prophecy about his career. 

Kyrgios, who is also appearing on ESPN as a guest speaker, recently shared another daunting possibility for the future. As per him, tennis will suffer when two of its greatest players retire.

Nick Kyrgios shares prophecy for Rafa – ‘his eyes will be set on the French [Open]’

Witnessing his home slam from the commentary box, Kyrgios has his eyes closed to the action. The player who often comes under fire for his statements was recently interviewed by Eurosport. He touched upon the topic of Rafa’s retirement and how the future will likely shape out for him. Kyrgios does not believe that the 22-time grand slam champion can keep playing for much longer. 

“Honestly, I hope he stays and plays because we all know how much he means to the sport and how entertaining he is to watch, but realistically I would say this is definitely his last year on tour and I think his eyes will be set on the French [Open], but I think that’s about it.”

He echoed the sentiments of many on tour, including John McEnroe, who also said that Rafa would be looking to return to the French Open, but his future was unsure after the clay slam.

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Kyrgios recently made another admission when he talked about what the future of tennis will be like when Nadal and Novak Djokovic decide to retire. As per him, it is quite bleak.

Tennis will lose many fans once these two heads of the Big 3 are gone

Kyrgios is often known as the individual who speaks his mind without much of a filter. Before the Australian Open, he appeared on a podcast with Trevor Noah, where he talked about the future of tennis. He said, “As soon as Nadal and Djokovic go, anyway, the sport is going to struggle. They’ll lose so many fans, I think.”

While he believed Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner are improving in terms of popularity, there won’t be much interest in the sport after the two retire. Kyrgios has given us two bleak premonitions for the future. Now, only time will tell which one of them comes out to be true.

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