Former ATP renegade and now aspiring Grand Slam champion Nick Kyrgios explained his reasoning for not hiring a coach this week at the Citi Open at one of his press conferences…
“I don’t tell (my box) anything, but I always hope they cheer me on. In a perfect world, I would love for them to do a squat routine during the day to come prepared for the game (laughs). No jokes, they know when I’m in a difficult moment during the match, as I said before, if they had given (ranking) points at Wimbledon I wouldn’t have been in a tense situation here in the first round, but it’s the hand I have to play in these moments. You all know how intense I am on the court and how professional I am now being off it. I am not doing anything that harms my performance, I am being professional.”
“Tactically, when I play against my rivals, I am always on fire. I watch a lot of tennis, I know its weaknesses and strengths, so I do my own research. I feel like no one knows my game as well as I do, but there are always little details that my team can help me with. I don’t need someone by my side to tell me how to play tennis, I just need positive reinforcement from time to time to give me feedback on what I’m doing right, I’ve had too much negativity in my career that sometimes punishes me too much. Just a small positive aspect can do me a lot of good. I’m definitely my own coach, but it’s all very simple for me: I serve big and then I play on instinct, it’s what works for me.”
Kyrgios has reached the final in Washington DC at the Citi Open by beating Ymer, Tiafoe, Opelka, Paul and Giron, and will face Yoshihito Nishioka to try to win his second Citi Open championship.
World no. 63 Kyrgios holds a 3-0 career head to head lead vs world no. 96 Nishioka. If 2022 Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios can win the final today it will be title number seven for the 27 year old Australian veteran.
Citi Open · Nick Kyrgios · Wimbledon
