By Jayita Belcourt
Brisbane, Australia — Nick Kyrgios has often been touted as the most talented athlete we have ever witnessed in the realms of tennis, effortlessly bagging aces and clinching matches from the best in the game. At just age 19, the Aussie shocked the world when he beat tennis superstar Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2014. From that moment on, Kyrgios was earmarked as the player to watch. But with a string of injuries, a fiery temper, and frequent dips in mental health, Kyrgios has struggled to crack the top 10, clinch his maiden grand slam, win love from fans, and even feel love for the game.
Sidelined now for nearly 24 months due to knee, wrist and foot problems, the 29-year-old has undergone extensive surgery and rehabilitation to return to the court. Undeterred, the sport’s most divisive star has been forced to look within and explore all avenues to extract the most of himself. From developing his off-court appearances as a tennis commentator to interviewing the world’s best on his podcast “Good Trouble”, the quest for Kyrgios to fulfil his potential, has been relentless.
At a recent event in Brisbane Australia, Kyrgios reflected on his journey and how bursting onto the tennis scene as an “socially awkward” kid from Canberra, was more than he could handle.
“It was incredibly tough to deal with obviously in today’s day and age with social media and how accessible it is to see so many negative comments. It feels really tough. I was 19, I’d just finished school, and had the entire length of the country on my back to try to do things that only a couple of people on the planet had ever done”, Kyrgios shared.
“I spiralled; I took everything so personally. When someone said a negative comment, I always took it to heart. I’m very emotional, and play with passion, and anyone who knows me, my circle, my family… I really started to believe all these negative comments that I wasn’t enough. And maybe I was the biggest waste of talent ever.”
“It really affected me. I actually hated who Nick Kyrgios was and I didn’t like waking up. I lost motivation to be a good person.”
“For the first five years of my career, I felt like probably one of the most hated athletes in Australia, in tennis.”
No easy pill to swallow, Kyrgios acknowledged he needed to reinvent himself – both on and off the court – and to charter his life with less focus on the opinion of others, and more on what he brings to the table. With a steely resolve, the 2022 Wimbledon Finalist is determined to return stronger and better than ever.
“I’m 29 years old. One thing that has been such a big turning point for me, is to actually stop caring what anyone thinks. And I realize that I actually put smiles on people’s faces, with what I do, which is extremely rare and that’s going out there. And whether its controversial, bad or good, people are going to watch it and they’re going to go home and think, wow, what an experience,” the Aussie said with a gleam.
“One thing that’s helped my tennis career is I have my own show now called Good Trouble and to be able to meet people like Gordon Ramsey, Gary V, Mathew McConaughey, Piers Morgan and all these amazing people that I thought Nick Kyrgios would never get to meet. I’m just this kid from Canberra and I get to learn.”
“I think athletes struggle with their identify after they finish, because it does become such a big part of your identity. I walk into a room, and people say that’s a tennis player.”
“I sat down with Jay Shetty [motivational speaker / podcast host], and he said this is just one form of communication. Tennis is just one form of communication. This is another. My podcast, and all these other business ventures, these are all ways that Nick Kyrgios communicates to the world this is who he is. Tennis is just something I was really really good at. I worked extremely hard.”
“Tennis has been an amazing journey, everything I’m able to do now – come here and meet all you guys [and David Goggins] and hopefully help, has been the most powerful thing for sure.”
“Now I’m back playing full potential and full strength and I can’t wait to be back at the Australian Open and see what I can do this year. It was a grind. But I don’t think people in the public or Australia, really knew how severe my injury was.”
Kyrgios has recently announced that his first stop on his return to tennis with be at the 2025 Brisbane International. Can he finally cast aside his “bad boy” destructive persona and step into the player capable of living up to his immense potential? As the world eagerly awaits what lies in store for the brash Aussie, one thing is for certain: it’s bound to be an entertaining ride.
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Scoop Malinowski · December 12, 2024 at 9:48 am
The word emerging from down under I got last week is Nick is training harder than ever and it’s paying off as he won a practice match 62 63 vs Jordan Thompson, who is top 30 ATP. It appears Nick has finally found the proper motivation to go all in on tennis instead of being a circus sideshow underachiever. It will be fascinating to see what happens when this phenomenal talent applies all his energies and focus on being the best he can be. There are no guarantees, as Mark Philippousis learned the hard way. Hopefully we still have not seen Nick at his best and that Wimbledon final vs Novak was just a prelude.
Jayita · December 16, 2024 at 7:38 pm
Looks like Nick is teaming up with Novak in men’s doubles to kickstart the season at the Brisbane International.. bring it on!!
Scoop Malinowski · December 16, 2024 at 9:21 pm
Jayita, what is the general public perception of Nick down under? Is he adored or more polarizing because of his controversial history of trouble and wasting his talent. Kafelnikov told me last week he view Marcelo Rios and Nick Kyrgios as the two most talented players he ever saw.