Lukewarm Kyrgios uninspired despite comeback chatter

Nick Kyrgious is apparently promising another comeback to tennis after a near-total absence of two ATP seasons.

But the troubled Australian who once reached the Wimbledon final before mental issues and injuries took a toll, sounds decidedly lukewarm about his chance of seeing the effort through.

The 29-year-old whose last Tour match was in Stuttgart 16 months ago, hyped his plans to the Louis Theroux podcast, while at the same time admitting he won’t expend too much extra effort in the process. 

He pointed to the painful retirement of Andy Murray after the Paris Olympics and the upcoming career farewell of Rafael Nadal – both of whom dragged through the final years of their ATP careers carrying a variety of inhibiting injuries.

“I look at Andy Murray and how Rafael is going out, I don’t want to be like that either, I don’t want to be kind of crawling to the finish line in a sense,” the Aussie said.

“What Andy Murray’s achieved in this sport is second to basically no one – unless you’re Novak (Djokovic), (Roger) Federer, or Nadal… the next person is Andy Murray. 

“You deserve to go out, I think, a little bit more gracefully than he’s done. the surgeries, the pain, it’s just not worth it, in my opinion.”

Kyrgios, known as a tennis outlaw for much of his chequered career due to real-life and online spats with fellow players, detailed his periods of self-harm and depression all while trying to compete on the circuit.

He also copped to an alcohol problem of “20 or 30 drinks” a night. 

“I’d drink like a fish,” he said. But then just wake up and play Nadal the next day. Give him a good run for his money.”

He also said he “genuinely contemplated” in 2019 around Wimbleodn final time – he lost to Nadal – and was treated in a London psychiatric hospital.

“Well, they wanted me to stay for a bit, but I was like: ‘I have other duties (Wimbledon final) that I need to fulfil’,” he said. “I nearly got him though. I nearly beat him.

“I was just struggling with being who I was, it was hard at that time and I didn’t feel like I could take a step back from the sport and kind of work on myself and get myself in the right headspace. I 

“was just playing and playing and playing and kind of dealing with everything. And it was a dark time. Like I was drinking and I was spiralling out of control and I was continuing to play and travel. It was a lot.”

The player due to return to the Australian Open from January 12, said that life is not ideal at the moment despite his healing.

“I know my steps to get me out of my bad thinking now…I feel like I could go back into those habits in an instant. That’s how it feels. 

“I feel like I could do those things, but I don’t want to. Like, before, I didn’t have any resistance. I don’t want to do that now.”

Main photo:- Nick Kyrgios appeared at AO2024 as a colour commentator