Nick Kyrgios Matteo Berrettini Daniela Hantuchova Lead 2026 Kooyong Classic Field

Nick Kyrgios is set to play at the 2026 Kooyong Classic, an exhibition tournament running from January 13th to 15th. It’s another chance for the Australian to stay involved in tennis despite his ongoing injury struggles.

The controversial player made his comeback to ATP singles at the start of 2025. He played at the Brisbane International and Australian Open but lost both matches to Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and Jack Draper.

But here’s the thing – his wrist is still causing major problems.

The same injury that kept him out of tennis for so long continues to bother him. He was clearly in pain during those early 2025 matches and struggled again at Indian Wells and Miami.

Kyrgios hasn’t played singles since losing to Karen Khachanov in Miami. Despite all the physical issues, the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up really wants to stay connected to tennis somehow.

That became pretty clear when organizers announced a battle of the sexes match between Kyrgios and Aryna Sabalenka for December 28th in Dubai.

The concept got mixed reactions from fans and analysts, which isn’t too surprising.

Nobody’s really sure if Kyrgios plans to use the Kooyong Classic as a stepping stone for another ATP comeback attempt. Or maybe he’s accepted that exhibitions are about all he can handle these days.

Karen Khachanov has also committed to the Kooyong event. His biggest moment of 2025 was reaching the Canadian Open final, where he lost a really exciting match to Ben Shelton in a deciding-set tiebreak.

Lorenzo Musetti is the highest-ranked player on the entry list.

The Italian had a pretty solid 2025, including qualifying for the ATP Finals after Novak Djokovic decided not to compete at the year-end championships.

Djokovic made that decision after winning a marathon 2025 Athens Open final against Musetti. It was the 23-year-old’s sixth straight loss in finals. His defeat in Chengdu was so devastating that it left him in tears.

Alexander Bublik will try to hit the ground running at the Kooyong Classic. The Kazakhstani had a career-best 2025 with four titles, including the Halle Open where he beat Jannik Sinner in the semifinal.

Matteo Berrettini and Flavio Cobolli were the heroes for Team Italy during its 2025 Davis Cup triumph in Bologna.

When Sinner and Musetti withdrew, many thought Italy might struggle. But these local favorites stepped up big time, and they’ve both signed up for Kooyong too.

Hubert Hurkacz and Marin Cilic are among the other ATP players who’ve committed. On the women’s side, Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic and former Australian Open semifinalist Daniela Hantuchova will represent the WTA.

Controversial Russian Exhibition Draws Big Names

Since February 2022, ATP and WTA tournaments in Russia and Belarus have been banned because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. That conflict is still going on, though there’s been some recent talk about possible peace negotiations.

But here’s where things get complicated.

An exhibition in St. Petersburg has been held each year since Russian events were suspended. Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Bublik, Karen Khachanov, and Diana Shnaider all played in the 2025 version.

Medvedev explained why he decided to participate during an interview. But his reasoning probably won’t calm the anger from Ukrainian players who see these exhibitions as problematic.

The situation puts players in a really tough spot – balancing their careers with the politics of the ongoing war.