Nick Kyrgios has revealed he is desperate not to repeat the same mistake made by Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal if he ultimately calls time on his playing career.
The 29-year-old Australian made the comments on the latest episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast, where he also discussed his return to tennis, how he wants to retire “more gracefully” than Andy Murray could, and his battles with mental health issues. health.
Asked how and when he might retire, Kyrgios said he didn’t want to “crawl to the finish line” like Murray.
Like many fans of the Scot, Kyrgios clearly found it difficult to see Murray competing as a shadow of his former self.
“Looking at how Andy Murray is doing now and how Rafael is going out, I don’t want to be like that,” he said.
‘I don’t want to crawl to the finish. What Andy Murray has achieved in this sport is unparalleled, unless you are Novak, Federer or Nadal; the next person is Andy Murray.
“It’s like you’ve achieved everything, you deserve to go out a little more gracefully than he did. I think the surgeries and the pain are just not worth it in my opinion.”
Andy Murray has been a huge supporter of Nick Kyrgios throughout his troubled career
Kyrgios returns to professional tennis for the first time in two years after a long injury layoff
Kyrgios told Louis Theroux on his podcast about his plans for tennis and retirement
Speaking about a “bad period” of his life in 2019, Kyrgios also told Theroux: “I was just struggling with who I was, it was difficult at that time and I didn’t feel like I could take a step back from sports and join working on myself and getting myself into the right head space.”
“I was just playing and playing and playing and doing everything. It was a dark time. I drank and I got out of control and I kept playing and traveling. It was a lot.’
When asked how much he drank, he replied: ’20 or 30 drinks (one night), easy. I would drink like a fish.
“Anything, vodka, anything.
‘But then just wake up and play against Nadal the next day. Give him a good run for his money. It was quite hectic.”
Kyrgios does not want his tennis career to gain momentum, like Murray, who has been struggling with injuries for years
The Australian star also pointed to Spanish great Rafael Nadal, who was also battling an injury
The 2022 Wimbledon finalist said he would occasionally be joined by other players in these drinking parties, but “very rarely.”
Kyrgios has struggled with mental health issues for much of his career and has once again credited Murray for his help and support.
In 2019, Murray noticed signs of self-harm and intervened to help his friend. Kyrgios spent some time in a psychiatric ward that year.
“I’m fighting it most days,” Kyrgios said when asked how he is doing. “I don’t wake up feeling great… I feel like I know what my steps are to get me out of my bad thoughts… I feel like I could go back to those habits in a heartbeat .
‘I feel like I could do those things, but I don’t want to. Just like before, I had no resistance whatsoever. I don’t want to do that now.’
At his peak, Kyrgios reached the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic in London
Kyrgios also won the Australian Open doubles title with his good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis
Kyrgios has played just one match since October 2022 as injuries reared their ugly head. But he announced earlier this month that he will play at the Australian Open next January.
“I could come back now and beat 50 percent of the players, but I don’t want to do that,” Kyrgios said. ‘My fans deserve a better version of myself than I am on the pitch right now.
‘I don’t want to just join in and I know the world won’t be kind to me when I come back.
‘They will suddenly forget that I was out for a year and a half with injuries.
‘They will just think that it is Nick Kyrgios who has all the expectations again. So if he loses, that’s not okay.”
Finally, Theroux asked Kyrgios about the oft-repeated story that he vastly underestimated his potential in the sport, that the game came so easily to him, but that he could not back that up with hard work.
“That’s not the case, though, because it’s not easy,” he said. ‘It’s not like I just picked a “professional tennis player” out of a hat and that was my life. I’ve worked ten times harder than most people.
“If anyone followed my training day, he would definitely be in the hospital. You know what I mean? They don’t see what I do every day.’