"Tennis in Australia is much popular thanks to Nick" colleague Jasika credits Kyrgios for tennis' popularity
ATP
The 2014 US Open boys's singles champion, Omar Jasika, recently spoke about his compatriot Nick Kyrgios and his popularity in Australia.
Kyrgios is one of the most popular tennis players in Australia. Recently, the 27-year-old Australian surpassed three million followers on Instagram, and his popularity skyrocketed following his run to the final of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.
His colleague from the ATP Tour, Omar Jasika, spoke about Kyrgios' influence as well as Ashleigh Barty in a recent interview with Spanish publication Punto De Break.
"Of course, I think tennis in Australia is much more popular thanks to Nick (Kyrgios). The press likes to talk about him all the time. If you take a walk, it will appear in the press."
"It's everywhere. That makes tennis more recognized in Australia. You see a lot more young people playing tennis thanks to Nick."
Jasika explained that Barty's popularity is similar to that of Kyrgios in Australia. At the same time, he hit out at the press, which, according to him, can create misleading stories about players.
"Exactly, also with Ash Barty. However, the press can lead to some misunderstandings. I understand that sometimes they want to find a great story, but sometimes that story is not correct. Sometimes, they try to turn a story around to make it more interesting, which I totally understand, but that doesn't help all the people around."
The Australian also spoke about his career, which was stopped due to testing positive for cocaine in December 2017. Already in 2020, he was able to return, but struggles to reach his top form again.
"I think I got a pretty stiff penalty, two years for a performance-enhancing recreational drug that, to me, has consumed half of this planet. Of course: all that made me a better person. I feel like it made me a better person."
"I was also very unlucky, because after my two-year suspension I was going to play again. In my first tournament back I was really looking forward to it... but it was suspended due to COVID. That's where COVID came. I had to wait another year, three years had already passed after the suspension."
