Exclusive: Nick Kyrgios serious about retiring if he can win Grand Slam – ‘I don’t think it’s healthy’

“Hopefully I can win a Grand Slam and then retire,” is a phrase we’ve heard a couple of times from Nick Kyrgios this year, usually followed by a little chuckle, implying he’s only being half serious.

“Honestly, I probably would (retire if I won a Slam),” Kyrgios tells Eurosport.

“Especially being from Australia as well, there’s just so much travel, so much time away from family, so much time away from friends. You’re just missing milestones in the family, you’re just not having a normal life really.”

With the majority of tour events taking place in Europe and the United States, Kyrgios feels Australians like himself are always at a disadvantage because they don’t have enough time to fly home between tournaments.

“No other tennis player that’s not from Australia gets that,” said the world No. 22.

“It’s easy for a European or an American player to lose or win a tournament, then you take a five-hour flight back home and you spend a week there before the next event. Whereas as an Australian, you’re doing like four to seven months travel blocks. Honestly, I don’t think it’s healthy. No other real athlete does that in the world, in any sport. Doing seven months on your own.

“People are like, why are you complaining about it or whatnot? It’s not what they think. You’re living out of a suitcase, at hotels, it’s not like you’re on holiday. You’ve got to go to tennis courts, train; the lifestyle is quite vigorous. If it probably happens (winning a Slam), I probably would (retire) to be honest.”

Kyrgios was one step away from being a Grand Slam singles champion this year but lost to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final. He enjoyed great success on the doubles court, lifting the Australian Open crown alongside his compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis, and the pair qualified in doubles for the year-end championships in Turin.

2022 was arguably Kyrgios’ most consistent season to date and he seemed better-equipped to handle the grind of the tour with a tight-knit entourage travelling with him to keep him company.

Does that grind ever get easier?

“It was probably easier in a sense where, if you’re winning, winning makes everything easier,” he said.

“I’m exhausted honestly. Just stressful. The more you win, the more success you have, the more demands you have off the court. People expect more from you. It’s been a stressful year that’s for sure. I probably handled things a lot better. A lot of stress, but it’s been fun as well.”

Kyrgios has had a busy couple of months in which he competed in exhibitions in Mexico, Saudi Arabia and now Dubai before heading back to Australia for the official start of the 2023 season. This month he played at the Diriyah Tennis Cup in Riyadh, flew back to Australia, then returned to the Gulf 10 days later for the WTL in Dubai.

All eyes will be on the Canberran during the Australian summer and he is gearing up for a stressful month Down Under. As a home favourite and serious contender, Kyrgios will have a considerable amount of pressure on his shoulders at Melbourne Park and he confessed he isn’t necessarily looking forward to the whole circus.

“Probably not,” he said when asked if he has it in him to find a way to be refreshed for the Australian Open.

“I’m kind of gearing for an exhausting couple of weeks to be honest. But I’ve just got to internalise it and just think to myself it’s just another tournament. Obviously it’s a lot more than just a tournament for a lot of other people around me.

“For me, I’m the one playing, so I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I’m only human at the end of the day, so I can’t deal with too much. I’ve got about three weeks from now until then to just get my body right, get my game right and feel good about it.

“I know I’ve got about a month and a half after that where I’m going to be at home before Indian Wells; I’m not going to play anything after that. That’s really what I’m looking forward to.

“I’m not even looking forward to before AO, I’m just looking to after it, I kind of want it to be over. Because I know how stressful it is for me personally to be in the spotlight. Just everything, even my days off are stressful. I’ll probably play doubles. I’m really waiting for it all to be over.

“There is a little bit of excitement but it’s probably 95 per cent stress, 5 per cent excitement to be honest.”

Kyrgios has his girlfriend and some of his family members with him in Dubai this week, including his six-month-old nephew, George. He joked on TV that his nephew had “one of the world’s coolest uncles”, a role Kyrgios has been enjoying so far.

“My life has been an absolute roller coaster, a lot of people, a lot of opinions; so I’m not going to give my two cents to him,” he said of his nephew. “I’m just going to make sure he has fun, enjoy life, and just enjoy the ride.”

The world will get to gain more insight into the Kyrgios psyche when the Netflix docu-series ‘Break Point’ is released on January 13.

Produced by the same team behind the popular ‘Drive to Survive’, the project is meant to shed light on the lives of a groups of tennis players that include Kyrgios, Ons Jabeur, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Paula Badosa, among others.

Does Kyrgios believe ‘Break Point’ will have a similar impact on tennis’ global popularity the way ‘Drive to Survive’ has helped Formula 1 gain millions of fans across the world?

“Definitely. I feel like it’s the perfect thing. It’s exactly what tennis needed,” said Kyrgios.

“There’s such a different aspect to tennis that people don’t understand. The different personalities. I think tennis is actually one of the only sports where there’s literally players from all over the world. There’s players and they go about it so differently.

“I don’t think people know behind the scenes how stressful it is. For instance at US Open, me going to sleep at 4:00am most nights after playing four-hour matches then doing media, then doing treatment, then barely eating before sleeping until 4:00am then doing it all over again. People don’t actually understand that and how vigorous it is and how much stress is on your body.

“Just the journey as well, with the team around you. The emphasis of having a tight circle and having those people you can trust is insane, I think that’s going to give a good insight.

“Just the origins of all of us as well. Where I came from, my journey. Everyone’s journey is so different and it’s pretty extraordinary. Someone like Casper Ruud, his journey, growing up, with his family, his origins, it’s awesome, I think that’s going to be cool. Even I’m interested to see how they grew up, what their family was like, I think that’s a cool angle as well. Because at the end of the day we all made it, we all made it through that journey, just different ways. It’s going to be cool.”