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'Not playing': Confusion over shock Nick Kyrgios announcement

Nick Kyrgios, pictured here speaking to the media after his first-round win at Wimbledon.
Nick Kyrgios speaks to the media after his first-round win at Wimbledon. Image: Wimbledon

Atlanta Open officials have sparked confusion about Nick Kyrgios' participation at the Tokyo Olympics after claiming he will play their tournament instead.

Kyrgios was named in Australia's 11-member Olympics tennis team on Monday, alongside fellow stars Ash Barty and Alex de Minaur.

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But there is now mass confusion about whether or not Kyrgios will actually go to Tokyo after the Atlanta Open announced his participation at their event.

“Nick Kyrgios returning to Atlanta!” the tournament's official Twitter account posted on Wednesday.

When fans pointed out that it would be impossible for Kyrgios to play in Atlanta if he's going to the Olympics, the Atlanta Open responded: “He is not playing in Tokyo.”

The Atlanta Open is slated to begin on July 24, just one day after the Olympics starts.

Kyrgios was named alongside de Minaur, John Millman, James Duckworth, John Peers and Luke Saville in the male contingent of Australia's team.

Barty was named along with Sam Stosur, Ellen Perez, Storm Sanders and Ajla Tomljanovic.

Stosur, Tomljanovic and Barty will compete in the women's singles, with Barty teaming up with Sanders and Stosur with Perez in the doubles.

De Minaur, Millman, Peers and Saville have been named for both singles and doubles tournaments, with Kyrgios and Duckworth named to contest singles only.

Curiously, the 11-member team included six men and only five women - perhaps due to uncertainty surrounding Kyrgios' participation.

Kyrgios also the only member of the team not to feature in a promotional video posted by Tennis Australia on Monday.

Nick Kyrgios overcomes fall to advance at Wimbledon

Meanwhile, Kyrgios said not even a "brutal" fall which left him squirming in agony was going to stop him from advancing at Wimbledon on Wednesday.

After overcoming a nasty fall on the Court No.1 turf and winning his epic battle with Frenchman Ugo Humbert, Kyrgios boomed: "With one leg, I was going to finish that match."

In the most brilliant contest of Wimbledon so far, the Aussie prevailed 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-1 9-7 after three hours and 26 minutes.

"Not bad for a part-time player," Kyrgios told the cheering crowd.

Nick Kyrgios, pictured here celebrating after his win over Ugo Humbert at Wimbledon.
Nick Kyrgios celebrates after his win over Ugo Humbert at Wimbledon. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) (Getty Images)

The 26-year-old reckoned he'd been in agony overnight on Tuesday after the pair's match had been called off just before the 11pm cut-off when locked at 3-3 in the fifth because of the strain of playing his first match for nearly six months.

And after he'd slipped and taken a bad fall when the scores reached 6-6 on resumption, it looked momentarily as he writhed around the court that he might have to pull out, just as Serena Williams and Adrian Mannarino had done after tumbles the day earlier.

"I was always going to get up and play. I made it that far. I haven't been playing many tournaments. I'm here," he said.

"I'm like, 'Ah, going down' - it was pretty brutal. It hurt. My hip hurt.

"I just got back up and showed some resilience. Comes with age."

with AAP

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