"Carlos Alcaraz at 21 winning Grand Slams, my body can't take more": Nick Kyrgios on being 'older' on Tour despite not regretting early-career choices
Nick Kyrgios has opened up about his feeling of being among the elder statesmen on the ATP Tour. Even though the Australian is 29, he has expressed his desire to wind his career down over the next couple of years.
Kyrgios started making a name for himself on the ATP Tour back in 2013 and in the years ahead, cemented his reputation as a talented but temperamental player. Despite courting many controversies, primarily for his on-court outbursts, the Australian achieved a career-high ranking of World No. 13 in singles, and also finished as the runner-up at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.
However, Kyrgios has often admitted that he never took tennis as seriously as the majority of his ATP Tour colleagues. The Australian lacked discipline, particularly during his younger years in professional tennis, which likely made him susceptible to injuries and fitness issues as he grew older.
Recently, Kyrgios told the Tennis Insider Club podcast about his lack of discipline and how it may have contributed to his struggles with injury in recent times. He could only play once throughout the 2023 season and has not yet been featured competitively in the ongoing one. However, the Australian said that he has no regrets about his early-career choices.
"You know, it's like I was, you know, I was partying till 4 AM, then playing and then not sleeping and then just not warming up. And then I had 10 good years and now you have injuries where maybe if I did things better they wouldn't happen. I don't regret it and I had fun, but at the same time, like these are the latest stages of my career," Nick Kyrgios said (at 13:47).
The 2022 Wimbledon finalist went on to talk about 21-year-old Carlos Alcaraz, who already has four Majors to his name. According to Kyrgios, Alcaraz and other youngsters make the Australian feel "old" on the ATP Tour. The seven-time ATP Tour-level title winner also admitted that he may pull the curtains down on his career within the next one or two years.
"I don't want to play for too much longer, maybe one or two more years. So yeah, I mean I'm enjoying it, like being I guess older on the tour, like you got guys like Carlos Alcaraz at 21, winning Grand Slams, and I feel like I've been on the tour now for like 11-12 years. I think my body can't take much more," Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios, though, despite his inactivity on Tour, has been quite active in forging a career for himself as a tennis analyst and commentator.
Nick Kyrgios has focused on analysis and commentary amid his ATP Tour absence
Nick Kyrgios has stated his intention to return to playing action before the conclusion of the 2024 season ends. However, in the meantime, the Australian has turned to analyzing and commentating on tennis matches. He was first roped in by Tennis Channel for its coverage of the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals.
The former World No. 13 impressed and later featured as a commentator for the 2024 Australian Open as well, where he also conducted post-match, on-court interviews. For this year's edition of the Wimbledon Championships, Kyrgios was part of the BBC's coverage, but there was controversy surrounding the BBC's decision to make the Australian a part of its team.
Nick Kyrgios' latest outing as an analyst and commentator came on ESPN's behalf at the recently-concluded 2024 US Open. He courted controversy during his commentary stint at Flushing Meadows as well, with many fans urging ESPN to remove the Australian from its team after he made a seemingly derogatory remark about World No. 1 Jannik Sinner's girlfriend Anna Kalinskaya.