THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 8, 2022

Nick Kyrgios

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Nick, maybe not how you'd want to get there, but you're a Wimbledon finalist. How does that feel?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I think you already said it: it's not the way I wanted to get to the final. As a competitor, I really did want that match. It was obviously something that as soon as I beat Garin, Rafa was a high possibility, someone I've had so many good battles with before.

We've both taken a win against each other at this tournament. I really did want to see how the third chapter was going to go.

Obviously you never want to see someone like that, so important to the sport, go down with an injury like that. He's just played so much tennis. He's had a grueling season.

I just hope he recovers. I'm sure I'll play him again on a big stage.

Obviously I'm not going -- it's exciting to say that I have a chance to play for a Grand Slam singles title after everything. It's pretty cool.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How and when did you find out that he was pulling out? Have you spoken to Rafa?

NICK KYRGIOS: No, I haven't spoken to him. I found out last night at dinner just obviously before I got indicated that it was going to happen, just before the press conference obviously.

Honestly my first feeling was a bit of disappointment. My energy was so focused on playing him and tactically how I'm going to go out there and play, the emotions of walking out there, all that type of stuff.

But, you know, it wouldn't have been easy for him to do that. I'm sure that a lot of his team members and himself, there would be a part of him that wanted to play, for sure. He barely lost a match this year. He wanted to probably go for all four. So it wouldn't be easy.

I thought I'd just put just a nice post up to say, like, Look, we've had a lot of run-ins, a lot of battles. I'm sure at the end of the day everyone did want to see us go to war out there.

I hope he just gets better.

Q. What are your first memories of watching Wimbledon and then thinking maybe you could get to this stage?

NICK KYRGIOS: I never thought. I never thought I'd be here at all, to be brutally honest with you.

Obviously when I was No. 1 junior in the world and I was playing here as a junior, I can't give enough credit to juniors, what it did for my confidence. Being around the Grand Slams at that young age, being around some of the top players, the facility, I don't think I would have had the breakthrough in the men's so quickly. But I never thought that I'd be playing.

I saw some of the professionals walking around and I'd be a junior here, and I never thought I'd be playing for the actual men's title. I feel like it's the pinnacle of tennis. Once you are able to raise a Grand Slam trophy, that's like, I mean, kind of what else is there to achieve?

So I never thought I'd be here. I'm just super proud and I'm just ready to go. I'm going to give it my all and we'll see what happens.

Q. I wanted to ask you about playing the final after such a long gap of matches. Do you think this is better for you, given that you said you played a lot of matches, your body may not be up to speed in a sense? Also that you missed that one extra day of competition.

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, for sure. I had a think about that last night. I definitely feel like I've been playing in a pretty good routine. Obviously people would instantly say, He gets another day off. But it's definitely a shock to the system because I've been playing so many matches.

You kind of play a match at a Grand Slam, then you know deep down that you have one day to wind down and let yourself relax and then go again.

To have like three, two and a half, three days off, today I'm going to try to emulate a bit of not a match scenario, but I'm going to try and have a bit more of an extended practice to kind of feel like I'm in that same routine because that can throw everyone off.

Obviously at a Grand Slam you want to have those matches. I think in a way, exactly right what you said, the competitive juices, you want to have those going, the adrenaline. That's just something that I'm going to have to go into the final without that semifinal kind of experience.

But that's okay. I'm going to take every positive. I get to rest my body a little bit. It's not bad going in there feeling fresh.

I had a shocking sleep last night, though, to be honest. I probably got an hour's sleep just with everything, like the excitement. I had so much anxiety, I was already feeling so nervous, and I don't feel nervous usually.

I just know there's a lot of people that want me to do well and give my best. But I had a shocking sleep last night. Hopefully I can get some sleep tonight (smiling).

Q. Obviously been a very new experience for you going this deep in a slam. Is there anything you've learned about yourself in the last 10, 11 days that perhaps you didn't know a week last Sunday?

NICK KYRGIOS: Great question.

I think the doubles in Australia has really helped me at a Grand Slam level. Even though it's doubles and it's nowhere near the physical kind of -- you don't need obviously the physical capacity to win a doubles Grand Slam that you do the singles one.

But I felt like just the kind of mundane, you win a match, you have a day off, you practice, you go again over a two-week period. I realized in Melbourne it's a long time. Like, it's a really long time in one place. You can't explore, you can't really go to the city here. You can't enjoy your time as much as you would like to. You kind of have to stay in your house, be reserved, take your mind off things.

I think in Melbourne I really realized that. Even at a doubles Grand Slam you do really need to just get your stuff done quick and clinical, then just rest.

I felt like earlier in my career, I didn't realize that these days off and the practice is so crucial. Like, it's just like, I beat Paul Jubb 7-5 in the fifth set in my first round, and now I'm in the Wimbledon final.

You just have to ride the waves, roll with the punches in a Grand Slam. Like, you just don't know. You really don't know. You could be four points away from losing the tournament, then 11 days later you're in the final, so...

I just feel like I kind of just take it as it comes now more so than what I used to.

Q. First Novak, you were very supportive of him during his dramas at the start of the year. Also you've been not so complimentary in the past. Can you talk about your relationship with Novak, respect and whatnot.

NICK KYRGIOS: We definitely have a bit of a bromance now, which is weird. I think everyone knows there was no love lost for a while there. I think it was healthy for the sport. I think every time we played each other, there was hype around it. It was interesting for the media, the people watching, all that.

I felt like I was almost the only kind of player and someone to stand up for him with all that kind of drama at Australian Open. I feel like that's where respect is kind of earned. Not on the tennis court, but I feel like when a real life crisis is happening and someone stands up for you...

We actually message each other on DMs in Instagram now and stuff. It's real weird. Actually, like, earlier in the week, he was like, Hopefully I'll see you Sunday.

We never know. He has an incredibly tough match today. We all know what Cam is capable of. The growth of Cameron Norrie is insane. I just remember that kid with a pink sweatband playing under 10s that I used to destroy every time I played him. Now he's a semifinalist at Wimbledon, and we have the chance to go up against each other at a Grand Slam is just nuts.

Look, I'm excited either way. I think a Kyrgios-Djokovic final would be mouth-watering. I feel like if you do your research, I think you would consider him the favorite today. That's who I'm probably going to be preparing for. But at the same time I'm not counting Cameron Norrie out at all.

Q. In the past your relationship with the sport has been a little bit of a love-hate sort of thing. The past two weeks you see that is going to change in the future?

NICK KYRGIOS: I don't know if it's going to change. There's definitely times where I hate this sport, but there are times where I think I'm one of the most competitive people I've ever met. I've met a lot of people. Whether it's playing my Nintendo, whether it's playing basketball, whether it's anything, I'm so competitive.

So I feel like, yeah, I love tennis, but I just love competing. I just love going up against someone, and I love just the winning and losing aspect of sport in general. So I don't know if that will ever change.

The one thing for sure, whether I win or lose on Sunday, I'm going to be happy. It's such a great achievement that I thought I'd never be a part of. Especially at 27, I feel this is, like, for me, I thought it was the later stages of my career. But I just never thought it would be right here.

I have a chance.

Q. Australia has such a rich heritage of champions, here especially. Have you allowed yourself to think about what it would be like to join some of those greats if you win?

NICK KYRGIOS: I mean, look, as for the greats of Australian tennis, they haven't always been the nicest to me personally. They haven't always been supportive. They haven't been supportive these two weeks. So it's hard for me to kind of read things that they say about me.

For instance, when I saw Ash Barty in the final of Australia, I was nothing but happy. I would never say a bad word about an Australian making a final. Like that's just me.

And the kind of only great that's ever been supportive of me the whole time has been Lleyton Hewitt. Like he knows. He's our Davis Cup captain, and he kind of knows that I kind of do my own thing. I'm definitely the outcast of the Australian players.

He knows to kind of keep his distance and just let me do me. He just sends me a message here or there, Keep going. That's literally it. Just, Well done. Keep going.

It's pretty sad because I don't get any support from any of the other Australian tennis players, the male side. Not the players, but like the past greats. It's weird they just have like a sick obsession with tearing me down for some reason.

Like, I just don't know whether they don't like me or they're, like, afraid. I don't know. I don't know what it is. But it sucks, because if it was roles reversed, if I saw de Minaur in a final, or if I saw Jordan Thompson or Thanasi, I'd be pumped. I'd be stoked. I'd be having a pint watching going nuts. So I don't know.

Shout-out to Lleyton, I guess.

Q. Is it right you hit with Lleyton before coming here on grass?

NICK KYRGIOS: I hit for one day, one day in Hunters Hill. Obviously the media just loves to, He's every day with Lleyton Hewitt. It was one day for like an hour and a half.

Q. You posted a photo of yourself as a kid with a tennis racquet the other day. I just wondered, what was that kid like? Was he as competitive as you are now? Can you tell us a little bit what you were like as a kid.

NICK KYRGIOS: Hungry. I was hungry (smiling).

Yeah, I think it's just hilarious because, like, I don't think I'm supposed to be someone like me. Like, I look at that photo, I grew up in Canberra, the courts I trained on were horrible, and now I'm in the chance to play the Wimbledon final.

I think it's honestly an inspiration for any sort of kid who's kind of been outcasted or just been surrounded by negative headlines or negative just clouds or trying to be, like, just being brought down from a lot of different angles.

I feel like it's possible, it's still possible to achieve something quite special if you just believe in yourself. I never really lost belief in myself. I feel like most people around me at some stage in my life have lost belief that I would ever make a Grand Slam final, doubted me a little bit in my behavior or just the way I trained. I think everyone, it's safe to say. That's fine they doubted me, but I never lost belief in myself.

I think that's just a strong message for any kid who doubts himself. Just keep going. Look at that photo, I literally look like Manny from 'Modern Family'.

Q. You spoke the other day about the G.O.A.T.s, you called them. It's getting to the point now that Rafa has talked about his injuries, Federer is still trying to come back, Novak might not play again until the French Open in a slam. Do you feel the responsibility when they're gone to take the sport through?

NICK KYRGIOS: No, I don't. I don't think anyone's able to fill those shoes, to be honest with you. We've got a great crop of young players coming up. Alcaraz is unbelievable. Sinner, you saw what he's able to do. So many younger guys. Even Nakashima, the way he played this tournament.

I don't think that myself or those guys are able to fill those shoes. We'll never see a competitor like Rafa again. You'll never see someone wield a racquet like Roger, so effortlessly. You'll never probably see anyone who just wins and just plays the game just so good as a winner than Djokovic.

I don't think anyone will fill those shoes. Once they're gone, I'm not sure. I feel like if I ever am able to lift a Grand Slam trophy, like, please don't put the pressure on me to do another one. Like, I'm not...

No, I don't know if anyone's going to fill those shoes. It's going to be a sad day when they go. I did a podcast and I said, like, I feel like humans, we take for granted how good athletes are at times. LeBron, for instance, in NBA, he's been around for 18 years, 19 years almost, at the top of the sport, and we still criticize him.

Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, these guys are, like, so rare.

Q. There was a headline today in the Telegraph that said it's Wimbledon's worst nightmare. You have a free pass to the final. What's your reaction to that, with the allegations made against you, your behavior I guess is what they're referring to? Do you feel like you're Wimbledon's worst nightmare?

NICK KYRGIOS: I didn't read it, to be honest. I didn't see it.

Look, it's hard. It's something I have to deal with. Like, that's just the world we live in. Like, I'm in a Wimbledon final. I know deep down everything I've gone through and I've worked for. I just try to enjoy the ride. If that's what they want to write, I guess that's what they want to write. I can only control what I do.

I'm just going to go out there and enjoy the moment. Since I was born, only eight people have ever won this title, like eight people. So, like, I don't know. I'm just going to give it my best shot.

Q. You've said the last couple weeks obviously you don't play a full schedule, and it is very tough to travel from Australia. Does going deep in this make you want to do it more often?

NICK KYRGIOS: I mean, I'm still traveling four or five months of the year. But I've sat down and I'm never going to travel more than that. I just don't want to sacrifice family time or time at home. I just cherish those things too much. I don't want to be that person that's playing so much tennis during the year and not cherishing those times home.

Like after a result like this, win or lose, I want to have that crucial time at home to enjoy it with my loved ones. I've played this sport since I was seven years old. These are the times where I feel like you just want to sit and enjoy it. We made it this far.

I'm not saying to get complacent or anything like that. I still have tournaments after this as well. The U.S. swing, obviously. After that I just want to have time where I can reflect and say it's been a good couple months, then recharge and then go again.

I think that's the thing about the tennis life, no matter how good a result is or how bad it is, you have another tournament the next week. Life just goes. It's like a spinning wheel so quickly. I don't like that. I really like to sit and reflect.

Q. You said you didn't sleep very well last night. Did you watch a movie? Did you get up? How tired are you feeling today?

NICK KYRGIOS: No, I was just restless, so many thoughts in my head about a Wimbledon final. That's all I was thinking about. I was thinking just playing, obviously imagining myself winning, imagining myself losing, everything.

I've never been here before, so it's definitely... That's where Djokovic has the advantage from the get-go. He can draw from experience, he's done it so many more times, he knows the emotions he's going to be feeling. I don't know that. I don't know anything like that, so... It was just all running through my head, every little thought, and I just slept really bad.

I feel like I'm just a reckless ball of energy right now. I just want to go out on the practice court now and hit some tennis balls and just talk. I don't know. I want it to come already. Yeah, I want the final to come already.

I know that I have to kind of just calm down. There's still a couple days until that moment. Hopefully tonight I'll get a better rest, chamomile tea and a better rest.