Nick Kyrgios: I’m exhausted and tired – if it was up to me I’d retire right now

Nick Kyrgios: I’m exhausted and tired – if it was up to me I’d retire right now

Nick Kyrgios has admitted that “I don’t want to play [tennis] any more” in his latest interview appearance.

Less than a week after Kyrgios ruled himself out of the Australian Open because of a wrist injury, he told podcast host Jay Shetty that he would happily retire – except for the support he receives from friends, family and team members.

“If it was up to me,” Kyrgios told Shetty on the On Purpose podcast, “I don’t really want to play any more, to be honest. But I have to, almost. I have so much more to give.

“I’m exhausted, I’m tired. I’ve had three surgeries now. I’m only 28 years old. I always wanted to be able to have a family and not be in pain. When I get up, I can’t walk without pain.

“Even if I won [Wimbledon], people would be like, ‘Now do it again,’” Kyrgios explained. “That’s the rat-race of life. How much is enough? I’m very content with my life, I have more than enough to enjoy.”

Kyrgios’s absence from the first major of 2024 will be a major blow for Tennis Australia, who enjoyed a huge boost in visibility, ticket sales and viewing figures when he and his close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis won the Australain Open doubles title in 2022.

That was the start of a career-best season for Kyrgios, who reached the Wimbledon final – losing to Novak Djokovic in four sets – and then knocked top seed Daniil Medvedev out of the US Open. But he then needed surgery to remove a cyst in his knee joint, and has played only one match since. Even that lone appearance, against Yibing Wu in Stuttgart this summer, now appears to have been a mistake.

“Obviously had a really tough year with injury, had that knee surgery and came back a little too soon, set me back a little bit,” Kyrgios told his OnlyFans subscribers last week, before also mentioning the wrist injury that appears to have torpedoed his Australian Open chances.

“So, this is a very disappointing time for me, but I won’t be able to compete at the 2024 Australian Open.”

While Kyrgios will be missing from Melbourne, the Australian Open is expected to feature an unusually high number of returning stars, including several former grand-slam champions.

Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka, Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber and Emma Raducanu are all on the entry list, although Raducanu may need to come through the qualifying event if she does not receive a wild card from Tennis Australia.