AUSTRALIAN OPEN

February 5, 2021

Nick Kyrgios

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Fresh off losing to Borna in the third round in the Melbourne Summer Series event. Sum up the week for us and how you feel going into next week.

NICK KYRGIOS: I mean, I'm relatively happy where my game's at. Obviously I wasn't expecting much this week. Just to be back out there was a positive.

Obviously someone like Borna, who I can't imagine took too many days off during anything, looked extremely sharp today. The conditions were so tough for me. I was struggling to find any rhythm. I served bad.

I don't expect anything less from him. He's a great player. That's why he's an unbelievable player, he brings that consistency every day.

I'm not sad. I'm not disappointed at all. I played three matches this week, which is exactly what I needed. Now I got a couple days, three or four or five days to just relax a little bit, fine-tune a couple things, then see how it goes in the OZ Open.

Q. Can you give us an update on the condition of your knee?

NICK KYRGIOS: It's pretty sore. I was kind of expecting that. I haven't played in a year's time. But, yeah, I mean, judging from the three matches I played, I played the three-set match early, then played doubles after that, then I played Harry, then I played Borna. I'm happy with the load this week. That's all I wanted to get out of it.

I was expecting my body to not feel great, to be honest. I'm not at all scared or anything that I won't play, anything like that. I'm just going to maintain my body now.

Q. Are you where you want to be at going into the Australian Open? Are you feeling as well as you thought you would?

NICK KYRGIOS: I actually feel good, yeah. I mean, I know mentally for me it's more important than anything. If I'm positive, I'm motivated, I'm sure I'll play some good tennis. Hopefully the crowds are going to be all right.

Yeah, I'm not thinking ahead at all. I got four days to just enjoy. I'm not going to think about the Australian Open just yet.

Q. A few past players, Jim Courier being one of them, has made the point that you are the danger man. Do those things just brush off you or do you consider that or not?

NICK KYRGIOS: I mean, personally I don't care. I go day by day. I don't care who I play in the draw. I could draw anybody, I'm going to go about it the same way I'd go about it today. I'm going to try to serve big, play big, find my rhythm. If I execute well, usually I win. If I don't, something like today happens where there's a couple loose points out there.

These past legends, I appreciate if they're positive. I mean, I've experienced some weird stuff from these past legends, like some of them just stalk my Instagram and comment and stuff. It's a bit weird.

So, yeah, I don't really care.

Q. Do you think you'll be able to get through three and potentially five sets in a Grand Slam?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I mean, there's a massive question mark for me even if I was completely healthy, not playing in a year. It's not easy to turn around and prepare for such an event just like that. It's not like a tap.

I thought I did everything I could this week. I won a couple matches. I had a lot of court time. I practiced every day, as well. I think I'm ticking the boxes. I think I'm giving myself a chance. I think everyone has a bit of a question mark on their sort of physical level. Anyone can kind of get injured here or there because no one's really played a best-of-five match in ages. Obviously the guys at the US Open. Yeah.

Q. With the knee, do you know exactly what it is? What does it feel like? When you're saying it's sore, does it feel like it's moving? Also, when did it actually start being a problem?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, well, I was going through some pain during last year. I've always had kind of knee issues, especially my left knee. It was something that was pretty serious. I'd rather not talk about it.

Yeah, I mean, I did everything I could to get it better, to get it able to play. I'm lucky that I'm healthy enough to play.

Q. Did you enjoy yourself? Were you feeling a kind of joy that you felt at times during your career? Do you think you'll capture that again next week?

NICK KYRGIOS: Uhm, definitely got a different feel about it, that's for sure. Definitely feels a bit odd out there. I'm playing Coric, I don't even know what he's ranked, close to top 15 probably I think. I usually bring a crowd. I look around, there's like 30 people. It's a bit odd.

But then again, I mean, I don't know. It feels strange. I don't think I'm going to experience as good of memories as I have here previously. You're talking about Khachanov last year or playing Rafa last year on center court, where it was the highest-rated TV match in pretty much tennis history. I mean, it's possible to have those chances to be a part of that stuff again this year. That's okay. We're just lucky to be even be playing at the moment.

Q. Wednesday night when the Premier had the press conference, what was your reaction? What did you respond?

NICK KYRGIOS: It was a bit of uncertainty. I thought Melbourne as a whole did the right thing, I think postponing it, making sure there was no possible spreading was the right thing to do.

Yeah, I mean, I don't even know if I was playing at 2 a.m., to be honest. I had no idea what was going on. Again, it was just about safety for everyone. I'm glad that there was no positive tests. We can just move forward.

Q. Talking about last year, obviously the matches against Khachanov and Nadal. With the crowd sizes this upcoming year, do you think maybe that will be the most challenging thing, not gaining that adrenaline to motivate yourself from within?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I mean, it's a tough thing to talk about. At the end of the day it's a tennis match. With everything going on, it really shouldn't matter, to be honest.

Yeah, of course it's going to be tough. If I'm down two sets to love, I've been down like that before and come back and won. If there's no crowd that day, I'm probably not going to win.

Yeah, it's a tough one. Like, I feel like guys who maybe don't -- I don't know. I don't know. I think it definitely favors some other players, playing with bare minimum crowds. That's the way it is right now. I can't complain about it.

It's going to be tough. Especially in your home backyard. Last year when I played Khachanov or Nadal, as you said, every single person in the stadium was going nuts. It was like a movement last year with the bushfires, with everything. It was a movement. I couldn't go outside really. It was insane. We're just going to have to put up with it this year.