{"id":378085,"date":"2024-03-21T00:40:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T01:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=378085"},"modified":"2024-03-21T04:04:34","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T04:04:34","slug":"the-moment-kyrgios-dumped-federer-copycat-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=378085","title":{"rendered":"The moment Kyrgios dumped Federer copycat act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick Kyrgios<\/a> has revealed the fruitless lengths he took trying to match the "gentlemen" of grand slam tennis.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios burst onto the scene at an early age, making the Roland-Garros<\/a> main draw in 2013 at just 18 years old.<\/p>\n

In his formative years on the tour, Kyrgios tried his best to fit in. However, he soon realised trying to be like Andy Murray<\/a>, Roger Federer<\/a>, or Rafael Nadal<\/a> did him little good.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Instead, he adopted his own style \u2013 playing in basketball jerseys and with a backwards cap.<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Although success might not have been forthcoming on the court all the time, Kyrgios built a brand with his outrageous playing style, temper tantrums, and outfits.<\/p>\n

"When I first came on the tour, I was so out of pocket with the normal tennis player," the Canberra product said on his eponymous podcast Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios<\/p>\n

"At that time it was like Andy Murray, (Roger) Federer, these gentlemen that were so clean cut. And I came on the scene, and I was like, 'Wow, this is so strange'.<\/p>\n

"Because the thing about tennis is we spend the whole day with our competitors. We're in the same locker room, we shower next to each other, we eat next to each other, and we just go play against each other. It's so odd.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"And I saw them walking around. I was like, 'Okay, I'll try and be more like Federer'. So I tried to bring two bags to the court, really organised, tried to be really clean and proper. And for the first couple of years, I didn't feel myself. I was like, this sport is just so foreign to me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I was really doubting whether I would have a long career because I was like, I'm really struggling to fit in. And then I guess there was a point where I was like, 'F— it, I'm just going to be myself'. You know?\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I started wearing basketball jerseys on court and everyone was like, 'What is he doing?' And that's when I think I had my best success when I just expressed myself."<\/p>\n

\"Nick<\/p>\n

Kyrgios has spoken openly about his mental health struggles on and off the court.<\/p>\n

In the podcast, he noted the euphoria of playing at Wimbledon one year and the inner turmoil he suffered at others where he didn't want to play.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old said his formative years were spent worrying about his competitors and only when he got his head space right did he find success.<\/p>\n

"When I was thrown into the spotlight, that's when all the negative thoughts started happening," Kyrgios recounted.<\/p>\n

"I was actually more insecure. I was just playing, I was a kid enjoying it, then I was thrown into the spotlight making better money than most people, but I was so unhappy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I think when I was really worried about other people's results or I wanted to win a grand slam, I was really focused on results-based things," he added.<\/p>\n

"That was when I was at my most unhappy. Last year (2022) I had a great year, was making finals of grand slams, and I was taking care of my mental health off the court \u2013 my partner, my family, my relationships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I just felt like I wasn't thinking about wanting more, it was just about going out there and getting the best out of myself and I had one of the best years on tour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Obviously I could have done more things or had better results last year, but I'm so content because I did the best that I could."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Kyrgios has revealed the fruitless lengths he took trying to match the "gentlemen" of grand slam tennis. Kyrgios burst onto the scene at an […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":378087,"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\/378085"}],"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=378085"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":378090,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378085\/revisions\/378090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/378087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=378085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=378085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=378085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}