"I've missed tournaments and training because I've just been gaming": Nick Kyrgios claims he was thrown into tennis with passion lying elsewhere

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios is famous for being outspoken. It is often his words which keep him in the news for the wrong reasons. Kyrgios has had his share of success on the court as well, winning four titles in the process. The highlight of his career, however, came in 2022 when he played in his maiden and, till now, only Grand Slam final at Wimbledon.

In that contest, Kyrgios started brilliantly and won the first set but eventually suffered a defeat to the former world number one, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, with a score of 4–6, 6–3, 6–4, 7–6(7–3). From then on, things never looked the same for the former world number 13.

Kyrgios suffered a serious wrist injury, which kept him out of action for nearly two years. He returned to the court late in 2024, hoping to feature at the Australian Open in front of his home crowd, but that did not go down well as he struggled massively and suffered a defeat in the first round against Britain’s Jacob Fearnley in straight sets. Talking after the match, Kyrgios made a surprising announcement where he hinted at a possible retirement from the singles category.

"Realistically, I can't really see myself playing singles match here again," said Kyrgios while talking to the media after losing the Australian Open round of 128 match in January. "I was knocking on the door from playing some of the biggest events ... winning some of the biggest events. When you're competing for the biggest tournaments in the world and you're struggling to win sets, physically, it's pretty tough. It's just not enjoyable for me. I'm happy to play through a bit of discomfort. When it gets to a point of ... I'm one of the biggest servers on tour and I'm getting out-served tonight. My average serve speed was beneath 200km/h. I mean, Nick Kyrgios without his serve is probably not a threat to many players."

Since that comment, nothing much has changed for Kyrgios. He was forced to withdraw from the French Open and Wimbledon because of a knee injury. He recently returned and featured in the doubles category at the DC Open with France’s Gael Monfils. Despite all of that, Kyrgios managed to remain in the news for his blunt comments about various issues in tennis.

Kyrgios recently gave an interview during the Esports World Cup in Riyadh, where he made some interesting admissions. Kyrgios admitted for the first time that his real passion was basketball and gaming. Kyrgios also shared stories about how he missed matches because of his love for video games and shared how he was ‘criticised’ for not prioritising his career.

"I think my passion was basketball and gaming, and I was thrown into a sport where tennis is very clean cut,” said Kyrgios. "I've been criticised in my career for not putting enough time on the court, and I've missed tournaments and training because I've just been gaming, purely because I love it. When I played those nine-hour gaming sessions when we were younger, I guess my mum didn't think this was possible [playing Esports competitively]."

Kyrgios went on to admit that he does not ‘fit the mould’ of a tennis player, which is why there is some resentment towards him as well. He also shared the story about how he was ‘throwing F-bombs’ during the Wimbledon final in front of the Royal Box. Kyrgios finished the conversation by stating that, despite having a difficult start to his career, he is ‘glad’ that he has ‘embraced’ playing tennis at the highest level.

"I'm very rough around the edges, and I didn't really fit the mould for a tennis player,” said Kyrgios. "I really struggled with that early in my career. Now I'm embracing it, and I'm glad I'm able to put on a show. When I played in front of the Royal Box at Wimbledon, I was throwing F-bombs. It's been a struggle to kind of fit in, but now I kind of embrace it," he added. I'm not going to change for anyone.”