Nick Kyrgios: “Tennis is just a game, don’t want to take it too seriously”

Kyrgios’ tennis career up until now has been an enigmatic one, high on one day, and deep down in the dumps on the other. While his stroke play is second to none, his attitude on court has been questionable all through.

An impressive week in Cincinnati, where he overpowered Rafa Nadal in the quarter finals was marred by a ‘no-show’ in the final, as Dimitrov brushed aside a rather ailing Nick Kyrgios. The fire was missing, the intensity had gone for a vacation and the killer instinct refused to make an appearance.

Kyrgios wasn’t all pumped up for the final either, as it may have seemed from his pre match comments, where he said that tennis was ‘just’ a game and not the end of the world for him.

“There’s just other things that are more important to me than tennis” Kyrgios said.

“It’s just a game… there’s worse things happening in the world right now than me losing… so I guess that’s part of the reason why I can’t take it so seriously.”

“I guess that could be a reason why I can’t really give myself fully to the game as well, but if I’m number one or number 500 I’m just a tennis player at the end of the day.”

“I don’t want really to be remembered as an unbelievable tennis player, I’d rather be remembered as someone who was kind to people and stuff like that.” he added.

Kyrgios also emphasised on the fact that he rued the fact that he couldn’t spend much time with his family due to his Tennis commitments.

He went onto praise Dimitrov after the final, saying that he was mentally way tougher than him, and probably that was the biggest reason for Dimi’s win.

“You had me mentally today already. I was like ‘I know this guy’s fitter than me’.” Kyrgios said, addressing Dimitrov.

Kyrgios’ comments once again tell us that Tennis maybe isn’t his number one priority, something that could hinder his progress as a professional, but then can you really blame him?