Nick Kyrgios might be one of the most talented players we've seen in the past decade or two, but he's also been a very troubled individual for much of his tennis career.
Kyrgios showed his talent very early on in his career, but for much of the first few years of his tennis career, the Australian made headlines with anything but tennis. He's had a really troubled off-court life with many incidents, but his on-court person also earned him very little praise.
Over the years, he successfully battled those demons but also returned to them. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that Kyrgios took control of his life, and his tennis career improved as a result.
His Wimbledon run in 2022 was truly impressive, and it only confirmed that Kyrgios indeed has the potential to be one of the best players in the world.
He just needed to be serious about his tennis career, which he didn't until a few years ago, and it's a shame. He's spoken often about his journey and did so recently, noting that he struggled a lot in the early parts of his career.
"I used to struggle a lot, early parts of my career, 2019, obviously self-harming and went through that stage when I was suicidal. I feel like I was able to learn so much through that and make it out of it and still play at absolute top level."
Kyrgios sees these struggles as a sort of privilege because they allowed him to learn a lot about himself and also got him to become a person capable of helping others. Thanks to the perspective his own struggles gave him, helping other people is one of the things he finds most joy in these days.
"Everyone goes through these problems, they have issues they need help with and I was one of those people, so you have to take care of yourself... I am not perfect and you look at some other tennis players, they were pictured to be gods, super-playing kind of perfect. I have been a mess basically my entire life and I am still able to come out and help people endure my way and have some fun."
Watching Kyrgios mature has been a delight for many tennis fans around the world because it's something many have wished for many years. Watching him mature as a player has been even more satisfactory because we got to see him play some of his best tennis, and it's truly eclectic.
"So I hope that ‘Good Trouble’ and all these amazing things that I am doing off the court can give other people hope that if I am able to do it, then you can do it as well."
John McEnroe famously asked the Australian to sort his life, and he knew why because very few players move the needle the way Kyrgios does, and it's a shame he's dealing with an injury these days.
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