Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios may be well known for his stellar sporting career but he is just as famous for his on-court meltdowns, something which the 27-year-old has no regrets over.
During a recent question and answer session on social media, one fan queried whether Kyrgios feels any regret for his “behaviour on the court”.
In typical Kyrgios fashion, the World No. 21 shot down any suggestion he should feel remorse for his recent outbursts while turning the questions around and asking whether people understand what it feels like to compete with “millions of dollars at stake”.
“Making it entertaining? Not being in the box like the rest of you? Winning majority of the time? Being Top 20 in the world? Nah, I love it,” he replied.
“Because my whole life I’ve been ice cold under it, so I expect better from myself. Also because there is millions of dollars at stake. Do you know what that feels like?”
The tennis court may get a reprieve from Kyrgios’ tirades of abuse after the sporting star got fans and the tennis community talking when he revealed he may be hanging up his racquet soon.
During the same question and answer session, Kyrgios hinted at a possible early retirement when one fan asked the 27-year-old whether he would still be competing past the age of 30.
“Honestly, probably not,” he replied.
“I wanna be able to not be bothered, probs gonna go to my house in the Bahamas and just sit and do nothing.”
In the meantime, Kyrgios remains in recovery mode after he was forced to withdraw from the Japan Open due to injury concerns mere moments before he was set to take the court for his quarter-final face-off against Taylor Fritz.
Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of tonight’s quarter-final, sending Taylor Fritz through to the semi-finals in Tokyo.
Get better soon, @NickKyrgios ????????#RakutenOpen pic.twitter.com/mLyuLi9QMD
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 7, 2022
Following his impressive doubles 6-1 6-2 win alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis and his crushing 6-3, 6-1 defeat of Tseng Chun-hsin, Kyrgios’ stellar run at the tournament came to an end after the 27-year-old cited an ongoing knee injury as the reason for his withdrawal.
“It’s obviously very disappointing,” he told reporters at Ariake Colosseum Arena.
“It’s one of my favourite tournaments. I’ve had great memories here. It’s heartbreaking, but I’ll be here next year. That’s for sure.
“I’ve been playing amazing tennis all year and actually was dealing with a bit of a knee issue around the US Open time.
“I got back home and probably didn’t take enough time off, to be honest. I went straight back into training.
“When your body lets you down, it’s not a good feeling. I know in this case it’s probably overloading rather than not being fit enough. I think it’s almost being too excited to get on the court and maybe training a little bit too much. So it’s positive, but heartbreaking at the same time.”