Nick Kyrgios opens up about US Open outburst after painful loss
ATP
Nick Kyrgios talked about his outburst after losing in the quarter-finals of the 2022 US Open. He doesn't see anything bad about it.
Kyrgios was really close to winning a Grand Slam title in 2022, but eventually, he came up short. He reached his first Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon. He lost that match to Novak Djokovic in four sets.
Only a few weeks later, he played in the US Open quarter-finals, and thanks to a draw that opened up for him, Kyrgios was considered to be one of the top favorites to win the last major of the season.
However, in the fight for a semi-final spot, he lost to Karen Khachanov in five sets and showed his disappointment after the match. The 27-year-old Australian broke his racket while his opponent celebrated.
Some saw it as disrespectful, but he explained his reasons during a recent interview with Julian Petroulas. According to Kyrgios, anyone would be mad if they lost a chance to win an additional $400,000.
"When people see that clip of me at the US Open breaking tennis rackets. People see that as a negative type of thing. 'Oh, he doesn't care, he's such a brat' but it' like how much I cared. People don't understand like if I won that match that's another 400 grand."
"Would someone on the street like, here's 400 grand - heads or tails - if you got that wrong, would you not be pissed off? I just lost in four hours at 2 am and for that amount of money."
At the same time, it wasn't only about money for Kyrgios. He also wanted to win the Grand Slam title for his country, something many men have failed to do in recent years.
"For the achievement of pushing to potentially win a Grand Slam, to bring it home to Australia, because I know how much this nation wants a Grand Slam."
"And I've been the closest male tennis player for the last decade to get close to one and all I get is negativity. And I'm just like, I'm frustrated because I didn't win one for you idiots. And I had to let it out."
