Nick Kyrgios has emerged from surgery on the knee injury that ruled him out of the Australian Open in upbeat mood.
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The Australian No.1's post-op recuperation began with tuning into Melbourne Park to watch Alex de Minaur take on Novak Djokovic.
After the Serbian nine-times Australian Open champion blew away his compatriot 6-2 6-1 6-2 Kyrgios tweeted "Watching Novak tonight makes me feel good about my tennis in general. how have I beaten this guy", accompanied by two laughing-with-tears emoji's.
Although Djokovic beat Kyrgios in last year's Wimbledon final the Aussie has a better head-to-head record against the 21-times grand slam champ, defeating him on both their previous encounters, albeit both were back in 2017.
The 27-year-old Canberran had gone under the knife earlier on Monday in his home city.
He had been ruled out of the Australian Open after an MRI scan on his knee revealed a cyst as a result of a small lateral meniscus tear.
Coincidentally it was a practice match against Djokovic that confirmed to Kyrgios his knee was too badly affected to play in the tournament.
Before the operation he tweeted a photo of himself ready for the operating theatre with the words 'It's time' and an anxious emoji.
Afterwards he sent one of himself on a hospital bed with air tubes in his nostrils and making a middle finger gesture, but with four green ticks seemingly indicating the op went well.
That was confirmed when he posted on Instagram: "Surgery complete. I'll be doing everything I can do get back to my best. To the real ones checking in and sending the vibes.. I love you."
Australian Associated Press
