"I probably wasn't taking the sport seriously enough" - Kyrgios on change in mindset
ATP
Nick Kyrgios has struggled with motivation in the past, but it seems that he successfully overcame those issues in 2022.
Kyrgios certainly shifted his mindset this year. It immediately showed also on his results when he lifted his first Grand Slam doubles title and also played his maiden Grand Slam final in singles.
Now, the 27-year-old Australian has traveled to Tokyo as he will compete at the 2022 Japan Open in Tokyo, where he will be one of the top favorites to win the title.
In 2022, he played a Grand Slam final at Wimbledon and a quarter-final at the US Open. Now, he knows how to prepare for major tournaments and that the build-up is very important, as he revealed ahead of the ATP 500 event in Tokyo.
"There's only so much I can control, and I'm taking all the steps and dealing with that off the court. I can only do what I can, and I'm here in Tokyo and just trying to play some good tennis, continue that momentum, and just try to do my job -- and that's play tennis, play it well. That's it."
"I thought the US Open was a great chance -- obviously, that one really, really hurt because I definitely thought that I was the favorite after I beat (Daniil) Medvedev."
At the same time, Kyrgios was disappointed after his US Open loss. He nows that his next chance to win a major will come at the Australian Open, which will start in a couple of months.
"Now I just have to wait until the Australian Open but I just want to keep my form, the way I'm playing, I want to keep that going. I'm doing all the right things so I definitely think I can win a Grand Slam, for sure."
Kyrgios admitted that he previously "wasn't trying hard enough," which is why he couldn't experience any success on the major stage. That has now changed.
"For a couple of years I didn't even get past the third round -- I wasn't training hard enough, I probably wasn't taking the sport seriously enough. Now, the last year and a half, I've been training really, really hard."
"You can't just rock up to a Grand Slam and expect to win it. You've got to put the building blocks in and the foundations in place. I'm super excited to be here, that's for sure."
