Nick Kyrgios determined to live life his way, and leave a legacy that matters
Bernard Tomic is living in the past and needs to resolve his issues, according to Nick Kyrgios who delivered a brutal assessment of his former friend’s boxing challenge.
Tennis
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Nick Kyrgios is a new man. He is happy, in love and wants to live his life to the fullest. Be the best person he can be meaning recent fight challenges from former friend Bernard Tomic has sparked feelings of empathy and sympathy, not anger. He speaks to Jamie Pandaram about how life has changed.
“I just want to keep proving that you can do it your way, that‘s it,” says Nick Kyrgios, as sweat beads dot his forehead after a two-hour basketball game.
This is how he is preparing for Wimbledon, the oldest, most highbrow tennis tournament in the world, where only white uniforms are allowed.
“I’d wear all black if I could – nah, I’d probably get fined,” Kyrgios said.
The Sinatra outlook is seemingly at odds with the hip-hop slang and stance of the young men who challenge Kyrgios on this indoor court, underneath Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, but actually the ideals of individualism are aligned.
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“I want to be remembered as someone who just did it their way, never conformed to these rules that society or the tennis world wants you to fit in,” Kyrgios said.
“I feel like people of colour, people that have loud personalities, can fit in on the tennis court and do it their way and can achieve some special things.”
The racquet-smashing, temper tantrums, tweeners, blistering forehand winners, Special K celebrations with doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis – Kyrgios will be remembered for all these things.
But following in the footsteps of Serena and Venus Williams, and John McEnroe, opening tennis to looks and personalities uncommon in the game? Yes, perhaps.
Guaranteed, nobody else preparing to conquer The Championship in London’s hallowed Wimbledon – starting June 27 – will be on a basketball court two hours a day.
Most of them are in Paris, playing in the French Open.
It is a Grand Slam Kyrgios has chosen to skip this year, and the 27-year-old will pick and choose which events he plays for the remainder of his career, for better work-life balance.
Rafael Nadal has played 32 singles matches this year including Friday’s night’s semi-final against Alexander Zverev at Roland-Garros.
Kyrgios has played 13, winning nine. His ranking has dropped to No. 76 in the world.
His four losses were to Daniil Medvedev in round two of the Australian Open, to Nadal in the Indian Wells quarter-finals, to Jannik Sinner in the round of 16 in Miami, and in his previous match, to Reilly Opelka in the semi-final of the US Clay Court Championship in Houston on April 10.
He’s beaten No. 7 ranked Andrey Rublev in Miami and No. 8 ranked Casper Ruud at Indian Wells already, matches Kyrgios clings to when reminded he’d have a higher ranking and avoid top-seeded players early in tournaments if he played more often.
“But at what cost? I can't even spend more than two months at home with my friends, my family, my loved ones,” Kyrgios said.
“It's just not something I’m willing to sacrifice any more.
“I don't think I’m doing this because of the pressure. Pressure for me is like, a single mum trying to figure out how they’re going to pay their bills.
“I don't think I have a life pressure or pressure to play tennis. I just don’t want to be travelling eight months of the year.
“My mum is sick, I don't want to be going away and something happening and then regretting the fact that I was travelling to play tennis. I just don’t want to have that regret in the back of my mind.
“Pressure-wise for me, I've been playing now for nine, 10 years on tour. I feel like I’ve achieved a lot. I don’t have anything else to prove.
“So I'm not doing that because I’m trying to dodge pressure. I’m playing Rublev, I’m playing Casper Ruud. I can’t dodge these matches, and I’m playing them in front of millions of people, and I’ve played them and performed.
“You've got guys like John Millman, guys that are still playing every week and their ranking is still lower than mine. So I don’t really care. I know that their love for the sport is higher than mine.”
Kyrgios is doing it his way.
Boston Celtics-obsessed, he describes basketball as “meditation” and uses these games to build his fitness, rather than mentally fatiguing on a tennis court.
It’s part of the reason Sydney has captured Kyrgios’ heart.
He’d vowed never to move to the Harbour City.
“But love makes you do crazy things,” Kyrgios said.
He relocated from Canberra into a $1.6 million penthouse in Kensington with 22-year-old girlfriend Costeen Hatzipourganis a few weeks ago.
“Cos is awesome, she is like the most supportive person ever,” Kyrgios said.
“She understands my training, she understands everything, she just wants the best for me.
“Her family is exactly like mine, my mum and dad are so similar to her family. It’s clicked very easily.
“This new Sydney lifestyle is so good.
“I swore that I’d never, ever [live in Sydney], but love makes you do crazy things.”
Kyrgios gestures to the group of aspirant professional basketballers he’s just locked horns with - including Anthony Mundine III, son of the rugby league and boxing legend – some play NBL1, others have been drafted to US colleges.
“I’ve got a new friendship group here,” Kyrgios said.
“These boys don‘t care who I am, they just want to run out here and hoop, compete, we just push each other every day.
“I feel like I outgrew Canberra a little bit.
“Traffic is brutal, but my lifestyle is clean. I do two hours of ball, an hour of tennis, gym, and I’ve got that nice little pattern with my girlfriend so life is good.
“I’m living here forever.
“When I was younger I used to play those tournaments in Homebush, Concord, Burwood, and that’s all I thought Sydney was.
“I used to sleep on the floor of my family’s [home] in Hurstville and get ready for my matches in Homebush – I didn’t know places like Bondi, The Rocks and Pyrmont existed.”
Early this year, Kyrgios revealed he’d had “suicidal thoughts” and how depression led him to abuse drugs and alcohol.
“There’s a lot of people that want me to keep playing,” Kyrgios said.
“I think I play for a lot of people, obviously, with this mental health side of things and the way I came out, I feel like there's a lot of people who have faith in watching me play against these Gods, against Rafa or someone like that.
“To see that someone like me can still go out there with all those dark times and those demons still in the back of my head and be able to put it together, I think gives a lot of people hope.
“I feel like there is a changing of the guard, athletes now are not afraid to speak up and say they are struggling mentally, which is great.
“Athletes, no matter how much they're struggling with off-court things or family things or relationships, they’re just forced to go out there and play, which almost amplifies all the other problems.
“I just don‘t like that, they’re humans at the end of the day. So I like the fact that people and athletes in general speaking up and taking time away. I think it’s healthy.”
TOMIC CALLS KYRGIOS OUT
Perhaps this understanding is why after a bitter falling out with former friend Bernard Tomic – who called out Kyrgios for a $1 million boxing match on social media – he expresses some empathy for the fading tennis player.
“He's not very good anymore, he’s not relevant anymore, and he’s obviously got money issues,” Kyrgios said.
“For someone who actually tried to stand up for him before and tried to help him out, like my family’s helped him out before, I paid for his flights back home from Shanghai because he had no money. So for him to come out and attack is extremely disrespectful I think.
“When he's challenging me for boxing matches - like first of all, I don’t know who’s going to put up $1 million for him because he’s dead broke. Second of all, I have bigger fish to fry at the moment. I’m trying to get ready for Wimbledon. US Open. I’ve got off court contracts, tournaments still pay me to show up.
“And I don't think that’s happening for him at the moment. But maybe one day, I would love to challenge him in there. I feel like I’ve got him on fitness.
“He‘s got a lot of struggles right now, and I feel for him. He’s someone that had an extremely brutal upbringing and there’s no denying that. But I feel like he lives in the past now, it’s time to take ownership of your life, show some accountability.
“I know he's got the inspiration from Jake Paul, but that’s not him.
“If someone calls me out, I will obviously respond. But at the same time, I know that he's got some deep-rooted issuesand I feel sorry for him.
“I'm making millions of dollars right now … tournaments are still paying me €50,000 just to show up. I don’t need to get in the ring, I’m not desperate.
“I'm a professional tennis player, still playing at the highest level of sport. Bernard is not.
“It's not the image I want to portray for my foundation.
“I'm still working with all these other brands that Bernard just doesn’t have, he’s just not on that level anymore. So unfortunately, I just can’t do that.
“One day if that happens, I want like 95 per cent of the cut because no one is watching it because of him anymore.”
But Kyrgios would prefer to settle their differences without fists involved.
“I'm not like that, we can literally talk it out over a coffee, I’m not afraid of feelings, figuring stuff out and having a man-to-man conversation,” Kyrgios said.
“But intellectually, he’s probably not the most switched on bloke.”
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