Nick Kyrgios is perhaps one of the biggest ‘what ifs’ in tennis over the past 15 years.
The Australian showed remarkable promise when he burst onto the scene at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, beating Rafael Nadal en route to his first Grand Slam quarterfinal. Kyrgios has gone on to clinch seven tour-level titles and reach the final of Wimbledon in 2022.
His career has, by no means, been a failure, but many feel it is a far cry from what his potential suggested. Kyrgios, now 31 years of age, has received advice from several tennis greats over the years, including Andy Murray, who gave his opinion after beating him at the All England Club in 2016.
What Andy Murray said about Nick Kyrgios in 2016
Following a straight sets loss to Murray in the fourth round of Wimbledon that year, Kyrgios described his performance as ‘pathetic’. Asked if Kyrgios needs to work on staying present all the way throughout matches, the Scot replied: “Yeah, of course he does, yeah. Yeah, of course.”
He expanded: “I mean, everyone’s different. It’s about, you know, finding the right people to help you with different things. For some it may be a coach. For some it might be a psychologist. Sometimes it might be speaking to family about stuff.
“You know, there’s not one way of tackling it. But if you want to continue to get better, then you speak and listen to, you know, as many people as you can, and take on board the things you think will help you. But everyone’s different in terms of how they, you know, improve and address their problems.”
Murray continued: “Just keep your head down really. Concentrate on your side of the court. Control what you can, basically. You know, you can’t always control what your opponent’s doing or how your opponent’s playing. But you can apply yourself, you know, to every single point and fight for every point.
“You know, don’t give up any cheap games or anything like that. I did a good job of that today. I don’t think I gave up a breakpoint. I was solid on my serve. Then, you know, created a little chance end of the first set. After that, you know, in the second set especially, I just tried to make as many balls as possible. That was it,” concluded Murray, who won the match 7-5, 6-1, 6-4.
Andy Murray said it wasn’t easy finding the right team in tennis
Asked how hard it was for him to find the right team to have around him to guide him to Grand Slam glory, Murray replied: “Yeah, it’s not easy. I think for tennis players, as well, especially it’s hard because you’re responsible for the team that’s around you.
“In a way, you’re in charge because you’re the one that’s funding it, paying it. Sometimes some people might be telling you what they think they want you to hear rather than what you really need to hear.
When you’re young, it isn’t that easy to make those decisions.
“Sometimes if you don’t think someone on your team is doing something right, when you’re 19, 20 years old, to tell someone who is 40, Actually, you know, I think you could be pushing me, I don’t like it when you do this, that takes time to learn how to do that. You know, it’s not easy.
“But over the years, yeah, you start to know what it is you need and what you want. A lot of the guys on my team have been around me for a very long time. Obviously the more stability, the better. Coaches do change sometimes because it’s a lot of travel, it’s a lot of work. Not everyone’s willing to put in that work.”
After their match at Wimbledon in 2016, Kyrgios and Murray played two more times. Kyrgios beat Murray for the first time in 2018 at Queen’s, but the Briton won their last meeting in Stuttgart in 2022.