Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios. File
| Photo Credit: AP
Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has revealed he frolicked in a psychiatric ward following a loss at Wimbledon in 2019 due to suicidal ideas.
The feedback from Mr. Kyrgios, extensively printed in Australia on June 15 based mostly on interviews for the upcoming Netflix documentary collection “Break Point,” are the most recent on his longtime struggles with psychological well being.
He went to a hospital in London to “figure out my problems” after the loss to Rafael Nadal 4 years in the past at Wimbledon, the place he wore a compression sleeve over his proper arm during his singles matches to hide his scars.
“I was genuinely contemplating suicide,” Mr. Kyrgios stated, in feedback printed by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“I lost at Wimbledon. I woke up and my dad was sitting on the bed, full-blown crying. That was the big wake-up call for me.”
“I used to be like OK, I can not maintain doing this.’ I ended up in a psych ward in London to determine my issues.” Mr. Kyrgios said he was “drinking, abusing drugs” and his relationships with family and friends were deteriorating.
“That pressure, having that all-eyes-on-you expectation, I couldn’t deal with it,” he stated. “I hated the kind of person I was.” Mr. Kyrgios, who has previously discussed his mental health struggles on social media and in interviews, has spent many months on the sidelines with injuries since reaching the 2022 Wimbledon final, which he lost to Novak Djokovic.
He returned to the elite tour this week at Stuttgart after seven months off, but lost in the first round.
In February, he apologized in an Australian court when he escaped conviction on a charge of common assault after pleading guilty to shoving a former girlfriend to the ground in 2021.
Mr. Kyrgios’ psychologist, Sam Borenstein, said in a written report and testimony that Mr. Kyrgios had suffered major depressive episodes around the time of the assault and had used alcohol and drugs to cope. Mr. Kyrgios’ mental health led to impulsive and reckless behavior.
A magistrate did not record a conviction against Mr. Kyrgios for reasons including that the offence was at the low end of seriousness for a common assault, was not premeditated and he had no criminal record.
Immediately after the court ruling, Mr. Kyrgios issued a statement through a management company saying: “I was not in a good place when this took place and I reacted to a difficult situation in a way I deeply regret. I know it wasn’t OK and I’m sincerely sorry for the hurt I caused.” “Mental well being is hard. Life can appear overwhelming,” he added in the assertion. “But I’ve discovered that getting assist and dealing on myself has helped me to really feel higher and to be higher.”
