"You win a Slam and no one cares what you do anymore" - Nick Kyrgios revisits Wimbledon 2022 final heartbreak with Serena Williams' ex-coach
Nick Kyrgios has looked back on his loss to Novak Djokovic in the final of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships. According to the Australian, becoming a Grand Slam champion would have greatly changed the narrative around him in the world of tennis.
Since making his ATP Tour more than a decade ago, Kyrgios has garnered a controversial reputation for himself. On one hand, many noted names in tennis regard him highly for his innate talent. However, on the other, he has been routinely criticized for his lack of discipline and tendency to get into trouble with crowds, officials, and his opponents.
In the 2022 season though, Kyrgios displayed some of his best tennis at the Wimbledon Championships, eventually setting up a final against top seed and three-time defending champion Djokovic. The Serb had also won the prestigious grasscourt major on three separate occasions previously. Unsurprisingly, it was Djokovic who was the favorite going into the match.
However, Kyrgios, against all expectations, rose up to the daunting challenge of facing the red-hot Serb. The Australian won the first set 6-4 and got off to a positive start in the second, but a calm, composed, and calculated Djokovic stormed back into the match, clinching the set 6-3. From then on, things quickly went downhill for Kyrgios, and in the end, he had to settle for second-best.
In a recent episode of the "Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios" video podcast series, the Australian, who was joined by Serena Williams' ex-coach Patrick Mouratoglou, revisited the 2022 Wimbledon final. According to Kyrgios, had he won the match against Djokovic, he would have become "tennis immortality" and people would care less about his controversial aspects.
"I knew that everything would change, but that's crazy because I was only a set and a half away from winning and I guess, becoming tennis immortality. You win a Grand Slam and no one cares what you do anymore. Yeah, that sucks," Kyrgios told Mouratoglou (6:51).
"I beat Novak Djokovic twice before that" - Nick Kyrgios on battles against Serb prior to 2022 Wimbledon final
In a previously released episode of "Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios", the Australian spoke at length about his 2022 Wimbledon final heartbreak with Frances Tiafoe.
During that particular conversation, Kyrgios told Tiafoe that he still thinks about the match every day, trying to figure out what he could have done differently to outwit the Serb. The Australian also talked about his wins over Djokovic across the pair's first two meetings on the ATP Tour at the 2017 Mexican Open in Acapulco and then that year's edition of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.
"I feel like I still think about that match every day, like what if I had played those two sets better, like I won five sets in a row against Novak. I beat him twice before that, didn't drop a set, won the first which means five sets in a row and then I lose three straight," Kyrgios told Tiafoe.
Currently, Kyrgios is still on the road to recovery after an extended spell on the sidelines with a knee injury and is yet to confirm when he will return to tennis.