AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 13, 2025

Nick Kyrgios

Press Conference

J. FEARNLEY/N. Kyrgios

7-6, 6-3, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Nick, tough luck. How do you assess your performance tonight? How do you feel physically now?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, it was an amazing -- I just want to start with the atmosphere. It's incredible to be back. It was definitely not my best performance. But, look, full credit to my opponent. He played really well tonight. I was really impressed with his level. Hits the ball really flat, really aggressive.

I knew tonight was going to be tough. With my physical state going into the match, I knew that I was going to be really hindered with my serve. But just seeing the fans line up for four, five hours, just the amount of people that were there supporting me, it was hard to kind of throw the towel in. Would have been really easy to kind of just roll over.

I tried to do the best I could with the state I was in physically. Obviously heartbreaking because, yeah, I obviously wanted to play well. I feel like my level's there.

Obviously the timing of the abdominal strain is not ideal. But it is what it is.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. The moment in the third set where you did the underhand, then behind the back, you seemed to really take in the crowd. What did that feel like for you, given I'm sure there were moments in your recovery where you thought you would never play again?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I mean, realistically I can't really see myself probably playing singles again here, so...

Yeah, it was special. Like taking that in, it was pretty good. It was good, yeah. So yeah, I mean, look, I knew that I have doubles, so I kind of was taking everything in tonight in those moments. It was, yeah, nuts.

Yeah, that's what I mean. I didn't want to just throw in the towel and walk off or retire. I was hurting physically. I respect my opponent. The fans waited hours to come see me play.

Yeah, I mean, realistically I can't see myself playing a singles match here again.

Q. Just to confirm, you're good for the doubles, though?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, me and Thanasi, I think we owe it to each other to go out there and play. Obviously I know that he's a physical wreck most of the time, but he somehow pushes through. Props to him for getting through his match today.

Yeah, but I guess we will play doubles. I'll play doubles. So yeah.

Q. Doing what you did tonight, you felt like the level was there? That doesn't encourage you that you could play singles well here moving forward at some point?

NICK KYRGIOS: I don't know. Realistically a year from now... Yeah, I was knocking on the door from playing some of the biggest events, winning some of the biggest events. To see how hard I worked in the last year... Sorry, I don't know your name, but as you said, I didn't think I was going to be back here anyway playing. I didn't get a wild card. I'm here because I feel like I deserve to be here.

It's hard. When you're competing for the biggest tournaments in the world and you're struggling to win sets physically, it's pretty tough. But I've still got a long year ahead. I'm trusting the process that I can still be able to do some cool things this year at some stage.

All my focus now is just not taking anything for granted. Playing doubles with Thanasi, one of my good mates, we've won this event before. We owe it to each other I think to go out there in front of the crowd and have a bit of fun.

Q. Nick, you're coming from two difficult years with almost no matches. How have been the last night? Have you been able to sleep? Have you felt goose bumps, nervous before the court?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, I had a fine sleep. I guess I knew I wasn't 100% going into this match. I'm not saying that's why I lost. He outplayed me. He served. He outserved me. He returned well. He did a lot of things amazing. He's played a lot of matches. He's an in-form player. He's transitioning very nicely.

Honestly, the reason I kept playing, tried to play tonight, was because of the fans. As I said, I don't know how many times I'm going to be back here again. That's why I didn't have headphones on, I wasn't listening to music. I walked out there today, wanted to hear the crowd. There were some special moments. So yeah...

Q. Is it about your body? You think at the moment you don't think your body will hold up for next year, or will you give it time to see if it can during the season?

NICK KYRGIOS: I mean, my wrist surgery was 16 months ago, so... I've put in a lot of work. I think it was, like, I didn't play a Grand Slam for 800-something days, 859 days or something. I continued to stay motivated through all those days when I was watching everyone else play, I was on the couch like in a cast. I stayed motivated.

I trained. I was in the gym. I'm in good shape. All the niggles I guess, my body compensating with the wrist, it's tough. Yeah, it's just not enjoyable for me. It's not enjoyable for me to go out there and not think tactically, enjoying the atmosphere, where am I going to hit the ball. It's like what am I doing to manage my body, this is painful, I can't do this because this hurts. That's not tennis to me. That's not sport.

I'm happy to play through a bit of discomfort. When it gets to a point of -- I'm one of the biggest servers on tour and I'm getting outserved tonight. My average serve speed was beneath 200. I mean, Nick Kyrgios without his serve is probably not -- I'm not a threat to many players.

Q. What regrets do you have at this stage of your career and about tonight?

NICK KYRGIOS: No regrets. I've had an amazing -- my journey is not over, but I've had an amazing journey. My career's been amazing. I don't have any regrets.

I think everything has been a learning curve for me. I continue to try and have fun, just be real, and enjoy the ride. But I think it would be selfish for me to say that I want more, I want more. I've had a lot of success. More than most athletes would have.

No, I don't have any regrets.

Q. You mentioned you got the doubles coming up. You're looking forward to playing that. What is the plan post-Australian Open? Are we going to see you at any other Grand Slams this year?

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, for sure. No, 100%. I'll play the Grand Slams. I've got my protected ranking. Obviously Wimbledon is a big one for me. I still feel like obviously, if I don't have an abdominal strain, I feel when I sustained that five days before a Grand Slam, it's not ideal. Hopefully, if my body's feeling good, I'll be able to make some noise at Wimbledon.

Right now the doubles, I'll rest. Yeah, it's just disappointing because I put in so much work, yeah. I don't know. I'm scheduled to play Davis Cup. I'm playing doubles. So yeah... I don't know what to say, yeah.

Q. You've spoken a lot about the fans. How would you characterize your relationship with the Aussie fans? No player in this country who can whip them up into a frenzy like you can, as we saw today.

NICK KYRGIOS: Yeah, it was crazy. Like, I know towards the start of my career I had a very love/hate relationship with the crowd here. I remember getting booed off that court when I lost in five sets. I tried my nuts off, lost in five sets. I remember getting booed off that court.

Fast forward to the later stages of my career. I went out there, I would say 65% of my capacity. For them to really see me fighting and still giving me that energy, it meant a lot, because I feel like I've given my life to tennis and I've tried to give them a show every time I go out there.

I know I didn't do that tonight. There are moments for me that are special that I won't forget. Really, they were tagging me in stories beforehand, like we waited four or five hours to line up. That was a big motivation for me tonight to not throw the towel in, just shake my opponent's hand after the first set.

There was no way my abdominal was going to get better. We knew that. I really enjoyed the way the crowd gave me energy. I wanted to give them two-and-a-half hours of tennis rather than a retirement. That's shit.