“I don’t think Federer, Nadal or Djokovic ever thought they’d lose to me” : Nick Kyrgios reflects on becoming a professional tennis player
Nick Kyrgios is often seen as one of the most talented yet puzzled professional in the world of tennis. The Australian’s tennis career is widely viewed as a ‘what could have been’ as fans believed he had the potential to be amongst the best in the world.
The 29-year-old recently reflected on his past and his career, where he provided an outlook of his journey and personal life in a recent appearance on the podcast ‘Tennis Insider Club’. This podcast usually shows a different side of the players, and revolves more around revealing their true personality.
The Australian’s first love was basketball, but his parents made focus more towards tennis. Kyrgios eventually became world no.1 in junior tennis and also won the 2013 boys’ Australian Open, but surprisingly confessed that he did not envision himself as a professional tennis player. His big break and then meteoric rise came at just the age of 19, where he shockingly defeated one of the ‘Big 3’ of tennis in Rafael Nadal.
“I never thought I was going to become a pro. I was playing from seven and then I got to about 15 and I was, you know, going up the ranks, obviously playing a lot of junior events and then won a couple of junior doubles Grand Slams. And then I was the No. 1 junior in the world. But I never thought I would still be as good as Federer at the time. Nadal,” said Kyrgios.
“And then I won a Challenger at 17, I think and then I saw the list of people that had done that and it was like Raonic, Federer, Dimitrov. I just laughed, I was like there’s no way that Nick Kyrgios is going to be at that level. And then a year later it was, I was there, it just happened straight away,” the 29-year-old added.
Nick Kyrgios on being unprofessional at the start of his career
To play against the ‘Big 3’ is in itself a privilege, but to be able to beat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic is no small feat, and only a small percentage of professional tennis players can say that. Nick Kyrgios is one of them, although he believes that none of them would have thought that they will lose to him, due to his ‘unprofessionalism’.
“I don’t think Federer, Nadal or Djokovic ever thought they’d lose to me. I think they look back and they’re like, ‘How the hell did we manage to lose to him?’ I guess I think about how unprofessional I was at that time. I didn’t give my full self to the game. I wasn’t training all the time and it just happened really early in my career.” the 29-year-old said in a conversation with Naomi Osaka on the ‘Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios’ podcast.
The Australian’s professional career has been tainted by acts of unprofessionalism, and controversies both on and off court. Kyrgios has been a part of major disputes with umpires, code violations, allegations of tanking matches, and also verbal spats with players like Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, attracting headlines in the media.
Nick Kyrgios believes this unprofessionalism also did not allow him to train properly and focus fully on his game, although admits it happened very early in his career.
