Nick Kyrgios put in the hard yards ahead of his Atlanta return.
The 2016 Atlanta champion will face American qualifier Noah Rubin in his first match since suffering a straight-sets loss to Kei Nishikori in the Wimbledon third round.
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In an all-qualifier clash, Rubin defeated Kyrgios' good buddy, Thanasi Kokkinakis, 6-3, 6-4, in his Atlanta opener.
Kyrgios and Kokkinakis fell in their Atlanta doubles opener to compatriot John-Patrick Smith and American veteran Nicholas Monroe, 7-6 (2), 6-4..
The second-seeded Kyrgios, who has been plagued by hip and elbow issues in recent months, has been working to strengthen his body at his training base in the Bahamas.
“I’m in better shape than I was a couple of months ago,” Kyrgios told ATP World Tour.com. “I’ve stayed injury-free, relatively, for the last couple of months, which is good ... I’m just staying on top of all that sort of stuff.”
The sight of Kyrgios doing push-ups shows he has more confidence in his cranky elbow, which forced him out of the entire European clay-court season.
"During the clay I was still feeling my elbow a little bit, which wasn't great," Kyrgios told the media during his run to the Queen's Club semifinals last month. "You know, I wasn't even 100% certain that I wouldn't feel it for the grass court season.
"So playing French [Open], I mean, I wanted to play, obviously. I was just traveling around watching people play, and not really doing anything wasn't great. But in hindsight, it was worth it."
Photo credit: Nick Kyrgios Instagram