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Nick Kyrgios has taken aim at Australians for a “weird” outlook on athletes while also delivering a brutal assessment on old-time tennis stars like Pete Sampras and Boris Becker.
In an interview with The Athletic the injured Aussie tennis star explained his reasons and rationale for signing up to Only Fans and his post-career plans to get involved with television and commentary.
He told the sports site that it would not go down well with Australian sports fans if he started to blend a commentary career with playing.
“I feel more respected here [in the United States],” Kyrgios said. He added Australians “don’t expect athletes to do anything else but play their sport, which is really weird. I definitely see myself coming back at some stage and playing at a high level again. But because of how intense last year was for me, this was a year to just balance it out”.
(Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
Kyrgios was scathing of some old pros turned pundits.
“Sometimes it’s hard to watch these old heads kind of break down the game all the time for new fans,” Kyrgios said.
“It’s like some of the stuff they say doesn’t make sense. Jim Courier is really good, the way he articulates things, but some of these other people, I’m just like, ‘What are you talking about?’. Like, ‘How do you know?’.”
“The game was so slow back then.
“I’ve watched Boris Becker and I’m not saying they weren’t good in their time, but to say that they would be just as good now, it’s absurd.
“A big serve back then was like 197 to 200 (km/h). People like me, we serve 220 consistently, to corners. It’s a whole different ball game.
“I’m not saying they wouldn’t have found their way … but serve and volley, to do it all the time now, you need to be serving 220 because if you serve anything less than 220, bro, [Novak] Djokovic eats you alive.
“He eats you alive. Bro, Lleyton Hewitt destroyed Sampras one year at the US Open. That was the first prototype of someone who could return serve.
“He made Sampras look like shit. And what would Djokovic do to someone like Sampras? It would be a cleanup. If Hewitt was doing it, Djokovic would destroy him. He would eat him alive.”
Kyrgios did get some experience in punditry at The Tennis Channel’s Santa Monica studios providing analysis of the ATP Tour Finals in Italy.
“Total pro,” The Athletic reported Ken Solomon, the chief executive at The Tennis Channel, as saying of Kyrgios. “On time. Actually, early. Well dressed. Did his homework, and gave insights that you can only get from a player at that level who knew the competition in a way few others do.”
Kyrgios made headlines when his deal was revealed with Only Fans – a subscription content platform that is used primarily by sex workers who produce pornography, but also hosts the work of other content creators, such as physical fitness experts and musicians.
“Everyone initially will think that maybe Nick’s getting into the porn industry,” said his manager Daniel Horsfall says. “Then they’ll find out, well, actually, it’s just (going) behind the scenes.”
Kyrgios, who has always struggled to put significant runs of form together due to injuries or lapses in motivation, said he would be all on board if tennis was to undergo a similar revolution to golf and the Saudi-backed LIV tour.
“I would have been the first one to jump off,” Kyrgios said. “I would have gone. I would have just let the ATP ship sink.”
And the man who has amassed career prizemoney of around $12 million also cried poor at the treatment of tennis players compared to those in the NBA.
“He doesn’t understand how just a moderately talented NBA player such as Kyle Kuzma of the Washington Wizards could sign a four-year contract this summer worth $100million — nearly as much as Roger Federer earned in prize money ($130m) during his entire career,” wrote The Athletic.
“He’s not even a top 50 player,” Kyrgios said of Kuzma.
And Kyrgios put his head over the parapet on the issue of equal prizemoney at Grand Slams.
“I played for four hours at the AO (Australian Open), then (Elina) Svitolina played for like 40 minutes and we both got paid the same,” Kyrios said.
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