As Mackenzie McDonald’s last forehand sailed long on Wednesday afternoon, Nick Kyrgios turned to his team and pointed to his temple, then closed his eyes and appeared to breathe a deep sigh of relief.

The 2022 Wimbledon finalist had just closed out an emotional 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against the American, scoring his first match win in almost three years at the Miami Open presented by Itau amid a long battle with injuries and undergoing surgery for his troublesome right wrist.

Read More: Nick Kyrgios: Wrist injury has been “one of the biggest challenges” of my career

“It was pretty heavy for me, personally,” Kyrgios admitted in a post-match interview. “Just the day-by-day process to even be able to hit a tennis ball again was insane. I spoke to my team after Indian Wells, and I was like, I don’t know how long I can keep doing this for.

“I was close to being emotional on court, but I want to be strong in those moments. It was tough.”

The result was a total turnaround after the disappointment of last week, when Kyrgios re-injured his surgically repaired wrist at the end of a pre-tournament practice session at the BNP Paribas Open. He took the court for his opening match against Botic van de Zandschulp, but couldn’t continue and was forced to retire 7-6 (7), 3-0.