Nick Kyrgios isn’t shying away from Australian Open headlines despite his withdrawal from the tournament.
The Australian, who pulled out of the competition due to a knee injury, was seen with girlfriend Costeen Hatzi in the player warm-up area at Melbourne Park, where Kyrgios embraced her from behind and put his hands on her chest, according to a recent video that has emerged on Twitter.
Hatzi, a Sydney-based style blogger, has been by Kyrgios’ side since late 2021. She expressed support for her 27-year-old beau on Monday in the wake of his decision not to compete at this year’s tournament.
“Devastated,” Hatzi began in an Instagram Story. “Needs to do what is right for his body.”
Kyrgios, who is less than a year removed from the Wimbledon final and the U.S. Open quarterfinals, took to social media on Wednesday to thank fans for their support.
“As the emotions have settled…. I just want to thank everyone who has sent their positive energy my way,” Kyrgios wrote on Instagram.
“But also apologize to all my fans who wanted me to knock on the door of a slam again…. never easy sitting and watching…. the journey continues.”
Hatzi sweetly replied to Kyrgios’ post with a trio of pink heart emojis.
Earlier this week, Kyrgios and his physiotherapist, Will Maher, opened up about the athlete’s injury during a press conference, revealing how he had been dealing with a cyst on a small tear in the meniscus of his left knee.
“The situation now is we wanted to prevent him from having further injury or making that injury worse. The prognosis is good and he’ll be fine. We just go back to work and make sure everything is fine for him and we go again,” Maher said.
Kyrgios then vowed to bounce back from the setback.
“Look, I’m not doubting I will be back to my full strength and playing the tennis I was playing prior to this event,” he said.
Kyrgios and his doubles partner, Thanasi Kokkinakis, won the men’s doubles title at the Australian Open last January.