"We're really bad role models, no one watches us" - Kyrgios hits back at critics
ATP
Nick Kyrgios took a moment to hit back at some of his critics after the opening loss at the 2022 ATP Finals.
Kyrgios got a chance to compete at the ATP Finals for the first time in his career. Although the 27-year-old Australian player would have preferred to compete in singles, he qualified as a doubles player.
Early this year, he and his good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis won the doubles tournament at the 2022 Australian Open. Thanks to that win, they were able to qualify for the year-end tournament, and now, they are hoping for a strong finish to the season.
The Australians lost in their first match to Wesley Koolhof and Neil Skupski, who are the first-seeded team and beat them in three sets. Still, the Special K's are the wild horses of the event and a duo that is the most interesting for many fans.
One of the journalists also sees their influence, and therefore, during their post-match press conference asked how they felt about being idols for children.
"This morning there were a lot of younger people, children. You are kind of an idol for them. How do you feel?"
Since Kyrgios often feels like his qualities are not appreciated, despite great interest in his matches, he replied to the question sarcastically.
"We're really bad role models. We're bad for the sport. No one loves watching us play. We're not crowd favourites. We're just negative people. Yeah, so, I don't know. I don't think that statement was correct by you. No one was there to watch us play today."
"Look, me and Thanasi never thought we were going to be here at the end-of-the-year finals. We always thought we could do some good things together, but to put a year consistently like this, and we didn't even play, we played maybe six or seven events or something, so…"
