‘I feel more respected here’: Why Kyrgios is happy to be off the court and out of Australia

Days after withdrawing from next month’s Australian Open, Nick Kyrgios has described the expectations Australia places on athletes as “weird” and says stars of previous eras would be eaten alive if they were playing in 2023.

The 28-year-old Wimbledon finalist only played one match all year, after knee and wrist injuries kept him sidelined for most of 2023. In an exclusive interview with The Athletic, Kyrgios spoke about how the past year has affected him, and what his future in tennis looks like.

“I played a full year last year [2022], no injuries; had great results, had a great year,” Kyrgios told The Athletic’s Matthew Futterman.

“I barely played this year, two surgeries, and now still, I would probably say they’re both [years] equally as fine, which is crazy. Most tennis players would be like, ‘This was just depressing’. People would be struggling, they would be like, ‘What do I do? Who’s my identity?’. This year, it’s been equally as enjoyable as last year. That’s just my personality and how different it is. That’s the crazy thing.”

Kyrgios has always had a complicated relationship with tennis, and on Netflix’s Break Point, and more recently Piers Morgan Uncensored on TalkTV, the Canberran revealed he had struggled with suicidal thoughts in February last year.

After a successful and relentless 2022, during which he made his first grand slam final, Kyrgios said he was “cooked”.

Nick Kyrgios said he would like to get into commentating and television when his playing career comes to an end.Credit: Chris Hopkins

“I was spent after I got home after the US Open, I was cooked. I was so mentally fried. I was just so tired. Physically, I felt fine but just mentally, I was over it. So maybe this year is a counterbalance,” he said.

During the injury lay-off, his list of off-court projects continued to grow.

Just last week Kyrgios announced he would be joining video subscription company OnlyFans to “to disrupt the way sports stars share content”. Last month he was providing analysis for The Tennis Channel, and next year he will be releasing an interview series called Good Trouble on YouTube.

After tennis, Kyrgios says he would like to get involved in television and commentary, but it would be viewed as un-Australian if he started before he called time on his playing career.

“I feel more respected here [US],” Kyrgios said. Australians “don’t expect athletes to do anything else but play their sport, which is really weird. I definitely see myself coming back at some stage and playing at a high level again. But because of how intense last year was for me, this was a year to just balance it out”.

And, he also has some feedback for former players-turned-commentators.

“Sometimes it’s hard to watch these old heads kind of break down the game all the time for new fans,” he said.

“It’s like some of the stuff they say doesn’t make sense. Jim Courier is really good, the way he articulates things, but some of these other people, I’m just like, ‘What are you talking about?’. Like, ‘How do you know?’.”

“The game was so slow back then,” he continued. “I’ve watched Boris Becker and I’m not saying they weren’t good in their time, but to say that they would be just as good now, it’s absurd,” he said. “A big serve back then was like 197 to 200 (km/h). People like me, we serve 220 consistently, to corners. It’s a whole different ball game.”

“I’m not saying they wouldn’t have found their way ... but serve and volley, to do it all the time now, you need to be serving 220 because if you serve anything less than 220, bro, [Novak] Djokovic eats you alive.”

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