A number of elite players have already committed to starting their 2019 seasons at the Brisbane International, arguably the best ATP 250 tournament on the calendar.
Leading the way is World No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who will be playing his first official match since retiring in the U.S. Open semi-finals in September with a knee injury. Nadal would go on to withdraw from the Paris Masters and season-ending Nitto ATP Finals with an abdominal problem before undergoing a 35-minute surgical procedure to repair his injured right ankle.
After retiring or withdrawing from all but one of the hardcourt events he entered in 2018, is Nadal ready to compete on the surface in 2019?
Another player making his comeback from injury at the 2019 Brisbane International is former World No. 1 Andy Murray. It was this time 12 months ago when Murray aborted a planned initial comeback in Brisbane to undergo hip surgery in Melbourne, forcing him onto the sidelines for the first six months of 2018. Murray would return for the grass season but would ultimately miss Wimbledon and play just six events for the year, ending his season in September as he took to the practice court in order to rebuild his fitness.
Murray has spent the off-season training at base-camps in Philadelphia and Miami, while he is planning to arrive in Brisbane just before Christmas in order to give himself the best possible preparation for a successful run. A two-time former Brisbane International champion in 2012-13, can Murray make it a hat-trick of trophies upon his return to the Queensland city in 2019?
Meanwhile, former winner Grigor Dimitrov and defending champion Nick Kyrgios will be hoping to put disappointing 2018 seasons behind them as they look for a fresh start in January. Dimitrov arrived in Brisbane this time last year as the Nitto ATP Finals champion and at a career-high ranking of No. 3, but the Bulgarian delivered an extremely sub-par season and has slipped to No. 19 in the world.
Kyrgios began 2018 in superb fashion as he claimed his fourth ATP World Tour title in Brisbane, defeating Dimitrov along the way, but injuries once again disrupted his season, while the Australian has since revealed he has also been struggling with mental demons throughout his career. Slipping to the fourth-ranked Australian and out of the top 30 in 2018, can Kyrgios re-discover his mojo in Brisbane?
While Nadal and Murray are returning from injuries and Dimitrov and Kyrgios are attempting to recapture their best tennis, Kei Nishikori is on the other end of the spectrum. The Japanese star made his own comeback from injury at the start of 2018 and has risen from outside the top 30 to inside the top 10 during a stellar 2018 that yielded a runner-up finish at the Monte-Carlo Masters and a semi-final at the U.S. Open, which helped him qualify for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.
U.S. Open quarter-finalist John Millman, who stunned Roger Federer on his way to his first major quarter-final in New York, will also be in action at his hometown event in Brisbane in 2019. Stay tuned over the coming months as more players are announced for the 2019 Brisbane International!