Kyrgios Beats Moutet for First Singles Win in 15 Months
kyrgios ended a 15-month singles drought Tuesday in Stuttgart, beating Corentin Moutet 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the ATP event. It was his first singles win since October 2022 and his first match in the format since the Brisbane International in January.
Kyrgios in Stuttgart
The match lasted less than an hour, and the result came against a player ranked world No 36. Kyrgios, 31, had missed the entire 2024 season and had won only one singles match since October 2022, so the straight-sets finish gave him a clean start to his return.
Afterward, he said, “I’m so thrilled to be back, and playing some high-level tennis as well,” and added, “I’m pleased with the way I played today, I’m pleased with the way I’m feeling in my body, I’ve been putting in a lot of work so I’m just really happy to be back.”
Moutet and the layoff
The gap before this win was long and specific: Kyrgios last played a singles match in January, when he lost to Aleksandar Kovacevic in 66 minutes. He had also gone through wrist reconstruction and four knee surgeries, details he pointed to when explaining why the comeback has taken so long and why this match meant something beyond one result.
“I had a wrist reconstruction, I’ve had four knee surgeries, so I’m really battling, but at the same time I’ve put in a lot of work, I’m really feeling good about myself,” he said. He also said, “Honestly, there were so many times I was thinking: ‘Why am I playing? What more do I need to do?’ And I look at you guys and this is why I’m playing, so I’ll hang around a little longer.”
Wimbledon path
The win comes with immediate tennis on deck. Kyrgios is scheduled to play doubles with Alexander Bublik on Wednesday, then face Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro, ranked world No 101, in singles on Thursday. With grass-court matches ahead, Stuttgart is now the first real checkpoint on a return that had stalled through all of 2024.
That path matters because Kyrgios was once ranked world No 13 and reached the Wimbledon final in 2022. A good run on grass could still push his name back into the Wimbledon conversation, but the first step was simply getting a singles win again — and he did that without dropping a set.
