In an interview with noted journalist Louis Theroux, Nick Kyrgios stated that he does not want to be “crawling to the finish line” of his career like Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray.
The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up believes Murray could have retired “a little bit more gracefully” given his successes in the sport.
Murray, 37, retired after this year’s Olympic Games in Paris, while Nadal, 38, will retire from tennis following next month’s Davis Cup Final 8 stage. Murray and Nadal both suffered from severe physical ailments in the latter stages of their illustrious careers.
Kyrgios, who has played just one match since October 2022 due to injury, is set to make his comeback at the 2025 Australian Open.
“The [wrist] injury I had was brutal,” Kyrgios said at the South by Southwest conference in Sydney earlier this month.
“The surgeon said I probably wouldn’t be able to play again. But I said whatever, just try and get me another two to three years of my career.
“It’s been a brutal last couple of years, but just being out there to play in front of a home crowd… I just want to be out there, lighting up the crowd and playing in front of my own country.
“Whether it is good or bad, it will certainly be a lot of fun, for sure. I am looking forward to it. My only motivation to come back and play is to try and win a Grand Slam, and I’ll give it one more shot.”
In a conversation on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Kyrgios explained why he has not returned to action sooner, despite expressing confidence he could still beat half of the players on tour.
“I played a match last year… like I could come back now and beat 50% of players but I don’t want to do that, because my fans deserve a better version of myself than I am now on the court,” the 29-year-old Australian said.
“I don’t want to just participate and I know the world’s not going to be nice on me when I come back. They’re going to all of a sudden forget that I was out for a year and a half with injuries.
“They’re just going to think that it’s the Nick Kyrgios that has all the expectation again. So when he loses, it’s not okay.”
The former world No 13 then divulged that he will not play on for as long Nadal or Murray.
“I look at how Andy Murray’s doing it now, 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,” Kyrgios continued.
“What Andy Murray’s achieved in this sport is second to basically no one, like, unless you’re Novak, Federer, or Nadal.
