Nick Kyrgios tells all: Grand slam title plan, Novak and Nadal, Piers feud, and business ventures
From Twitter spats which led to Nick Kyrgios telling outspoken broadcaster Piers Morgan to ‘eat a d**k’ to world sport’s most unlikely friendship. Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Australia’s most divisive tennis star.
After almost two years out of the game tennis superstar Nick Kyrgios is finally ready to return, revealing a “deep motivation” to “shut up” his critics as he eyes a triumphant comeback at the 2025 Australian Open.
It’s the one jewel missing from the Kyrgios’ crown - a singles grand slam title.
He came close in 2022, losing the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic, but wanting that ultimate success is the one thing that has been driving him during his injury-forced 18-month break from competitive tennis to recover from knee and wrist injuries.
In a wide-ranging exclusive interview, Kyrgios told Code Sports he will return to the court in Abu Dhabi for The World Tennis League in December before heading to Melbourne for the Open which starts on January 12.
“I am coming back because something is keeping me around the game,” Kyrgios said.
“I have beaten pretty much every person that has been put in front of me, made a final of a grand slam, won a doubles title in a grand slam, won multiple titles and made money.
“But I think the one thing that is now on my target is a grand slam. I think that will be the only thing that will shut people up at the end of the day.
“That’ll be my deep motivation.”
The confirmation came during an interview just 48 hours before Rafael Nadal announced his retirement from the sport.
This year also marked the first time since 2002 that one of Tennis’ ‘big three’ did not win a slam after Novak Djokovic bowed out of the US Open in the third round.
Tennis’ long-awaited changing of the guard beckons and a refreshed Kyrgios, after overcoming a wrist injury, is poised to strike.
“Novak is still there, competing for grand slams but that stat is ridiculous. In the last 10 years I have been playing, one of those guys has been in the best form of their careers,” Krygios said.
“I think the game is now the most open it has ever been.”
While a grand slam victory will silence his detractors once and for all, Kyrgios, thanks to his unapologetic approach, has always been a lightning rod for criticism and headlines.
From his on-court outbursts to his many online feuds, Kyrgios is clickbait gold.
Only hours after Nadal announced his retirement, Kyrgios was again in the headlines on Friday morning.
This time, all it took was a 10-word tweet: ‘Rafa don’t retire I wanna play you one last time.’
Kyrgios had a famous victory against Nadal in Wimbledon 10 years ago but an infamous run-in with the champion in 2019 when he complained about Nadal taking too long between serves at the Mexico Open.
The Spaniard was seething, declaring afterwards that Kyrgios lacked respect.
The Aussie had nothing but admiration for Nadal on Friday morning.
“We had our differences but you were one hell of a warrior. Best wishes and good luck with whatever comes next,” Kyrgios said on X, formerly Twitter.
It’s been a familiar tale for Kyrgios, who has never been afraid to push the boundaries in a sometimes robotic sport that expects it stars to conform.
“I don’t see myself as a bad boy,” Kyrgios said.
“I guess I was branded that just because I was a bit outside the circle of what a normal tennis player is.
“If you look at the behaviour around some of the NRL, AFL and some of the shenanigans those guys get up too… I guess that’s 10 times worse than me saying a swear word or smashing a racquet.
“I know at the end of the day I play a very cleancut traditional sport, that is gentleman-like and I have to be on my best behaviour.
“So I know why I got painted as that but at the same time it did bring a lot of attention… and I just rolled with it.
“I don’t think I carry that perception with the Aussie public anymore. But at the start of my career, people thought I was like a murderer.”
But Kyrgios has not only managed to “get past” that perception personally, he has turned some of his biggest foes into friends and allies.
His running battle with Djokovic, who once said he had no respect for the Aussie only for Kyrgios to brand the Serb “a tool”, is now a genuine bromance.
Kyrgios also infamously told Piers Morgan to “eat a d**k” after the TV host labelled the then 21-year old a “petulant little brat”, following his loss to Andy Murray at Wimbledon.
“I think he (Morgan) originally thought I was a bit of a… you know, as most people would have thought a couple of years ago without meeting me, the persona, the arrogance whatever,” Kyrgios said.
“When he sat down with me, he was like ‘wow, you and I are really similar’.
“He actually came on my podcast ‘Good Trouble’ which is coming out soon.
“We really get each other, and we are similar… polarising at the end of the day but honest. “We have a new respect for each other.
“ It’s like me and Novak, they are friendships that weren’t clear at one stage but now they are some of my closest people that I text from time to time when I need something and we are there for each other.
“When I started this journey I never knew some of my best mates would be Novak Djokovic and Piers Morgan.”
Kyrgios’ honesty, and unwavering commitment to present his authentic self to the world, has never sat well with pundits and former players.
Or even Aussie athletes from other sports, past and present.
Whether it was Dawn Fraser, Shane Warne or Patrick Dangerfield, everyone seemed to have an opinion.
When Kyrgiois declared not to love the sport after that loss to Murray in 2016 at Wimbledon, it opened the door for some of his harshest critics.
The sound bite moment led to an avalanche of accusations that Kyrgios was wasting his immense talent.
Kyrgios was sending a message that day but one that the tennis world at the time wasn’t ready to hear.
He was a tennis player, but tennis was not him.
Not entirely anyway.
Kyrgios had other ambitions off the court, like building a business empire, and was fighting his own personal struggles with mental health.
‘I think when I said certain things prior, people always said ‘oh, he’s taking the pressure off’ or that ‘he’s a be all end all tennis player’,” Kyrgios said.
“But no, it wasn’t for me to take the pressure off, it was for me to have the perspective that this is real life, there are real problems in life.
“I’ve lost family members, I’ve gone through hard times and I know that tennis isn’t the only thing that matters in this world.
“It’s a huge part of my life but it’s not everything and I think I had that perspective very early on and it’s helped me to be happy.
“If I was like every other tennis player in the world just worrying about tennis they would have as many other opportunities as I do.
“Tennis was also the platform for me to get to a point to where I am now, I’m grateful for that.”
Those opportunities have turned Kyrgios into one of Australia’s most business savvy athletes.
Kyrgios’ empire off the court boasts multiple business, sporting franchises, 15 properties and most recently a stake in a beer company, Stryda Brewing.
He believes his success as an entrepreneur has played a crucial role in helping to shed the perception that he is a ‘bad boy’ athlete taking his talent for granted.
“Most athletes struggle to walk away from a sport because it is their identity,” Kyrios said.
“For me, I’ve been working on that for a couple of years and there are now things outside of tennis that make me ‘Nick Kyrgios’, that make me a good person.
“I’m a human at the end of the day. Tennis was my main form of communication to the world but not my only one.
“I don’t think I carry that perception with the Aussie public anymore.
“At the start of my career, people thought I was like a murderer.”
A grand slam win, especially in front of a home crowd in Melbourne, will undoubtedly shut the ‘villain’ chapter of Kyrgios’ story once and for all.
“I’m far from done to be honest. I’m in the later stages of my career but I still have one or two years left… I’m feeling extremely well.
“I’m hitting for around three hours every day now. My wrist from surgery has completely healed and I’m feeling motivated.”
As for the rumblings that Kyrgios’ extended break from the court would lead to an early retirement?
“I don’t want to think about retirement but at the same time I understand that it is coming to an end,” Krygios said.
“I don’t think it’s ever going to be easy.
“This game has been a part of my life since I was seven years old and it’s all I’ve ever known and every opportunity I have come across, like with Stryda, the business, the networks, the properties… everything has come from hitting that yellow ball at an extremely high level.
“Even if I am super successful off the court, I know I’ll miss the game of tennis.”
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