"You have to be a mental animal to win a grand slam" admits Kyrgios after Wimbledon loss

The Wimbledon final loss to Novak Djokovic is still on the mind of Nick Kyrgios who spoke about it at the Citi Open pre-event press conference.

The Australian reached his maiden grand slam final at Wimbledon earlier this month but it finished with a defeat in the final to Novak Djokovic. It gave a new perspective to Kyrgios who understands now what it truly takes to win one of those. Reflecting on that, Kyrgios explained:

"You can lose a Grand Slam in a day, but you can't win one. It takes so many days. You know, you play a match and you have a day off, then you play again and then have a day off, like it's the mental capacity to keep doing the same things over and over again for two weeks at the highest level."

He continued:

"There's so many different things, intangibles. You might be feeling sick one day, like I fell sick before I played (Filip) Krajinovic. Your body is hurting, mentally. I couldn't sleep for two days after Rafa pulled out. Physically, I felt great, but mentally, you know."

He then paid credit to the big three admitting tht his respect his grown for them after this experience:

"You just have to be a mental animal to win a Grand Slam. Novak, Federer, and Nadal, I think I give them a bit more respect now."