"You just have to be a mental animal to win a Grand Slam; Novak, Federer, and Nadal, I think I give them a bit more respect now" - Nick Kyrgios reflects on 2022 Wimbledon campaign
Nick Kyrgios has a newfound respect for Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer after recently experiencing the magnitude of effort required to win a Grand Slam title. The Australian had his most successful singles campaign at a Grand Slam a couple of weeks back, reaching the 2022 Wimbledon final.
Unfortunately, he could not overcome the final hurdle at SW19, facing one of the Big 3 themselves in the summit clash. The former World No. 13 fell short against Djokovic, who won the final in four sets to lift his 21st Grand Slam title.
In the process, he closed the gap on Nadal - who has 22 Majors - in the Slam race. He also overtook Federer, who currently has 20 Grand Slam titles to his name, for the first time in his career.
Speaking during a recent interview with Prakash Amritraj, the 27-year-old spoke about his admiration for the achievements of Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer, stressing the importance of mental strength needed to win a Major.
"You just have to be a mental animal to win a Grand Slam. Novak, Federer, and Nadal, I think I give them a bit more respect now," Nick Kyrgios said in an interview for the Citi Open.
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He then reflected on the challenge of facing Djokovic in the final, who never seemed under pressure at any point in the match from where Kyrgios was standing.
"Playing one of them in the final, felt like he was fresh, felt like he wasn't playing tennis for the last two weeks and never seemed rattled," the Australian player added.
Nick Kyrgios was set to play another member of the Big-3 - Rafael Nadal - in the semifinals as well. While the match could not take place due to the Spaniard's withdrawal, the stress of the situation and his overall Wimbledon campaign left Kyrgios with sleepless nights.
The World No. 45 further spoke about the mental aspect of playing and winning a Grand Slam tournament, highlighting the challenge of enduring pressure day in and day out for two long weeks.
"You can lose a Grand Slam in a day, but you can't win one. It takes so many days. You know, you play a match and you have a day off, then you play again and then have a day off, like it's the mental capacity to keep doing the same things over and over again for two weeks at the highest level," expressed Nick Kyrgios.
"There's so many different things, intangibles. You might be feeling sick one day, like I fell sick before I played (Filip) Krajinovic. Your body is hurting, mentally. I couldn't sleep for two days after Rafa pulled out. Physically, I felt great, but mentally, you know," he added.
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While his third-round clash against Stefanos Tsitsipas was one of the most talked about matches of the tournament, Kyrgios termed his second-round match against Filip Krajinovic as his "best Grand Slam performance" till date.
"I put together my best Grand Slam performance against Krajinovic and then the Tsitsipas match was a roller-coaster, and then I just rolled with the punches. I came up short, but it was the tournament of a lifetime and I'm never going to forget that," the Canberra native stated.
"If I won Wimbledon, I'd really struggle after that for motivation - Nick Kyrgios
During the interview, the swashbuckling Aussie star made another interesting revelation about his breakthrough Wimbledon experience. Kyrgios admitted that he would have struggled to find the motivation to win other tournaments if he had won Wimbledon, which he termed the "biggest title" there is in tennis.
"I think every tennis player that picks up a racket one day wants to win Wimbledon...I think Wimbledon is the biggest title ever. I even had a chat with my team, that I thought if I won Wimbledon, I'd really struggle after that for motivation. I really don't know what more I would have to prove as a tennis player," Nick Kyrgios said on the same.
Having said that, he takes great confidence from his 2022 SW19 campaign, despite the sadness of coming ever so close to winning his dream title.
"It's exciting, I still look back and take so much confidence from it. As I said, it still hit me that I was in the final and just one hurdle away from lifting the trophy," Nick Kyrgios said further.
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Nick Kyrgios will now turn his focus towards the American hardcourt swing, beginning with the Citi Open in Washington DC, where he won the title previously in 2019. Just as he did in the build-up to Wimbledon, Kyrgios is expected to have a lot of match time under his belt ahead of the US Open as well, playing in the Canada Masters and Cincinnati Masters before the stint in New York.