The whimsical Australian tennis player Nick Kyrgios admitted he had found himself in a ” dark and lonely situation ” over the past few years as he battled the depression brought on by the crushing pace of the ATP circuit. “I don’t think people understand how great tennis can be (a sport) solitaire », he said in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph in Sydney on Sunday.
“You are alone in the field. You can’t really talk to anyone. You have to find the solution on your own. I had trouble with this aspect ”, explains the 25-year-old player, familiar with the algarades on the court. His behavior at the Cincinnati Masters in August 2019 earned him a fine of $ 113,000, which then led him to qualify the ATP as an organization. “Corrupt Before retracting.
“I had the impression that nobody wanted to know me as a person, that they just saw in me the tennis player to use me”
“I remember waking up in Shanghai a year ago, it was 4 pm and I was still in bed with the curtains closed. I didn’t want to see the light of day ”, describes the current 45th in the world, claiming to have been “Seriously depressed” at times in the past.
“I felt like nobody wanted to know me as a person, that they just saw me as the tennis player to use me. I didn’t feel able to trust anyone. It was a lonely and dark place ”, summarizes Kyrgios. “A lot of people put pressure on me, I put a lot of pressure on myself. I lost all joy of playing and I was getting out of control ”, he adds.
“I don’t live and breathe tennis. There are other things I like to do ”
“I became depressed because of what I thought I should be”, assures the native of Canberra, who chose not to take part this year neither in the US Open nor in Roland Garros because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Kyrgios has also implicated some of his colleagues including world number 1 Novak Djokovic, accused of not taking the situation seriously enough.
He took this break to get involved in fundraising for victims of the deadly fires last summer in Australia, as well as his foundation for underprivileged children. “I really miss it (to be on the circuit). But I don’t live and breathe tennis. There are other things I like to do ”, he emphasizes.
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