{"id":345016,"date":"2023-11-09T01:09:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T02:09:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=345016"},"modified":"2023-11-09T04:02:17","modified_gmt":"2023-11-09T04:02:17","slug":"one-thing-driving-kyrgios-after-nightmare-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=345016","title":{"rendered":"One thing 'driving' Kyrgios after nightmare year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick Kyrgios<\/a> has had plenty of time to mull over what he wants from tennis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

After a year away from the sport battling a meniscus tear, undergoing surgery to his knee, and managing a wrist niggle, the star has earmarked the ultimate goal.<\/p>\n

To win Wimbledon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch Australia take on the United States and Great Britain in the 2024 United Cup from December 29.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with Wide World of Sports, Kyrgios spoke candidly about this year's season, or lack thereof, in which he contested just one tournament, in Stuttgart.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

Losing the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic<\/a> in 2022 marked a cruel irony for Kyrgios. He'd never reached such heights before but never suffered such an agonising loss.<\/p>\n

Retirement crossed his mind, but knowing he has what it takes to compete at the elite echelon has him hungrier than ever.<\/p>\n

"When you're winning, everything's brighter," Kyrgios said in an interview courtesy of Aftershock PC.<\/p>\n

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"It's good money, the crowd loves it. I think my type of tennis is something that brings a lot of people together and gets people to have a couple of drinks and enjoy it and give them the entertainment that they want.<\/p>\n

"I want to just be able to say I won one grand slam, singles, before I retire. I think that's really driving me. I was so close, I was two sets away. I guess that's what's driving me.<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

"Wimbledon's the biggest tournament in the world – I think tennis fans that don't know tennis know what Wimbledon is," he added.<\/p>\n

"It's just got that prestige. It's like the pinnacle of tennis to me. If you win Wimbledon, no one can kind of say anything to you almost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"That would be the one that has a little asterisk on it and that's the one I will put all my focus and diligence into.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"That's the one I want to win and I was really close and I said I've still got that taste in my mouth of unfinished business. So I'm gonna try my best to get back there."<\/p>\n

\"Novak<\/p>\n

On the whole, 2022 was something of a breakout year for Kyrgios.<\/p>\n

He and Thanasi Kokkinakis won the Australian Open doubles title before that golden singles run at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios starred at the US Open, too, making it to the quarter-finals before being beaten by Russia's Karen Khachanov.<\/p>\n

As he continues his recovery from that gammy knee, Kyrgios looks back on last year fondly despite not coming away with what he desired most.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I look at my career and I look back at that year in 2022 and next year I'm still hungry, which is good," Kyrgios explained.<\/p>\n

\"Djokovic<\/p>\n

"I've been on the professional tour now for almost 10 years and to still have that hunger and fire to get back to the top and have a year like that is always healthy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It's not always natural that someone continually stays hungry and wants to get back there. That's first and foremost the most important thing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I just want to get my body all right. I want to go out there feeling as if I'm able to compete for grand slams again.<\/p>\n

"I don't just wanna participate in tournaments because I definitely do feel like I'm a player who can compete for grand slams, so I want to be able to just make sure that I'm coming back with that hunger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Then just my health, I just want to take my time and be healthy and come back and give the people the tennis that I was playing in 2022.<\/p>\n

"If I didn't feel as if I had much left in the tank, I'd probably just hang it up," he added.<\/p>\n

"I still feel as if I'm in some of my physical prime. I feel like my level is still one of the best in the world. So it's just belief in my game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I know what I'm able to do and I've got a lot of people around me and close to me that believe in my ability as well and I think that's super important.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm just going to take it day by day and just get back to where I was."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CnvmOyNyj5d\/<\/a><\/p>\n

As for the knee, there's still a way to go. Kyrgios said he's at "60 or 70 per cent" fitness.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What that means for the summer of tennis, and in particular the Australian Open, remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old said he's not getting too far ahead of himself and won't commit to contesting the first grand slam of 2024 just yet.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"There's still a lot of work to do," said Kyrgios.<\/p>\n

"I had some more setbacks after my knee coming back the first time. It was just not where I wanted to be and it was still causing me a lot of pain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I've been around the world with my rehab, seen some people that I hadn't seen previously for my knee and getting different opinions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Kyrgios<\/p>\n

"Obviously parts of other parts of my body were starting to feel sore and I was getting a couple of niggles here or there as well. My right wrist type of thing just because I was compensating.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"From where I was prior to the surgery to now is a big improvement so I guess that's all I can kind of focus on at the moment. Just being really diligent with rehab.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"It's quite a serious surgery where I just need to take my time. I need to be a bit patient. Just patience was the keyword really. Just being able to trust in the process of; OK, your left knee is not gonna feel brand new, but it's still more than capable of holding up in the Wimbledons and the Australian Opens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I just need to trust that and get it to a point where I feel confident again, just confidence in the body is a big thing."<\/p>\n

The 2024 season starts in earnest with the Australian Open on January 14-28, live on Nine and Stan Sport.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Kyrgios has had plenty of time to mull over what he wants from tennis. After a year away from the sport battling a meniscus […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":345018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345016"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=345016"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345022,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345016\/revisions\/345022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/345018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=345016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=345016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=345016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}