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Nick Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios, Tennis News

‘I couldn’t even look at a tennis court,’ says Nick Kyrgios as he lifts lid on depression fight


Nick Kyrgios says there was a point last year when he ‘couldn’t even look at a tennis court’ as he fought depression. 

The controversial Australian has been a vocal critic of his ATP colleagues continuing to play through the coronavirus pandemic while he has opted for a safety first approach and put his tennis career on hold.

However, he has now revealed he was considering taking a year off in 2020 even before the global crisis hit.

“I was actually seeing a psychologist before the ATP Cup earlier this year and I was thinking maybe it was time for me to just take a year off,” Kyrgios told The Herald.

“Maybe just work on myself and try and get to a place where I was just happy and doing other things.

“I couldn’t look at a tennis court. I had no happy feelings. I had no desire to be out there. I had no motivation. I had no need for growth out there. I was just going through the motions.

“It wasn’t making me happy. If anything it was decreasing my energy. It was a negative impact on my life.

“I was like ‘this doesn’t mean I have to stop completely but maybe it’s time to take a break and take a step back and get in touch with other things’.”


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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.