Nick Kyrgios just made a pretty surprising decision about the 2026 Australian Open. He’s giving up his wild card spot in singles to let someone else have a shot at their home tournament.
This wasn’t exactly an easy situation for anyone involved.
Kyrgios hasn’t played much tennis lately, and his ranking has dropped all the way down to No. 670 on the ATP Tour. That’s way too low to get into tournaments automatically, so he needed a wild card just to play at his home slam.
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As one of Australia’s most exciting players, Kyrgios probably figured he’d get that wild card without much drama. But things got complicated pretty quickly.
Stan Wawrinka, who won the tournament back in 2014 and is planning to retire this year, was also in the mix for a wild card. Tennis fans started putting serious pressure on Tennis Australia to give the Swiss veteran one last shot at the Australian Open.
With only three men’s wild cards left and the tournament starting soon, someone was going to be disappointed.
The final decision came down on Friday, January 9th. Christopher O’Connell and Jordan Thompson, both Australians, got the first two spots.
That left just one wild card for either Kyrgios or Wawrinka.
It’s pretty ironic, considering these two had a massive public feud at the Canadian Open years ago. Now they were basically competing for the same opportunity.
After what sounds like some pretty intense conversations with Tennis Australia, Kyrgios decided to step aside. The tournament organizers gave that final wild card to Wawrinka.
Kyrgios announced his decision on social media, saying he wanted to leave the spot for "someone who’s ready to make their moment count."
"After some good conversations with Tennis Australia, I’ve made the call to focus on doubles for this year’s Australian Open. I’m fit and back on court, but five-setters are a different beast and I’m not quite ready to go the distance yet."
"This tournament means everything to me, but – I’d rather give my spot to someone who’s ready to make their moment count. It’s all building blocks, and I’ll be back next year and pumped to compete. See you out there."
Nick Kyrgios will still compete at the 2026 Australian Open
Don’t worry though – Kyrgios isn’t completely missing the Australian Open. He’s still planning to team up with Thanasi Kokkinakis in doubles.
These two are nicknamed the Special K’s, and they actually won the doubles title back in 2022. The crowd absolutely loved them.
They’ve already been testing things out this year at the Brisbane International. The Australians beat Matthew Ebden and Rajeev Ram 5-7, 6-4, 10-8 in their first match.
But then they had a pretty wild second-round loss to Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 0-6, 6-1, 6-10. Talk about a rollercoaster match.
In Melbourne, they’ll be looking to entertain the home crowd again and maybe capture another Australian Open doubles title – assuming they can stay healthy enough to make it through the tournament.
