“I know that what I’ve gone through,” Nick Kyrgios feels people calling him underachiever are “insane”
Nick Kyrgios has refuted claims of him being an underachiever by recounting his early struggles and how he turned things around.
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Nick Kyrgios (Image via Sky Sports)
Nick Kyrgios has been on the tour for more than a decade now. He has defeated all members of the Big Three – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. In fact, the Australian ace is only the third player, after Dominik Hrbaty and Lleyton Hewitt, to have beaten each of them the first time he faced them.
However, the 29-year-old is yet to win his maiden Grand Slam title. Kyrgios came closest to winning one in 2022 when he reached the Wimbledon final. However, he lost to Djokovic in the title clash. Since then, he has been out of action for the most part.
Now that he is eyeing a comeback and has declared that he is aiming to win his first Major title, there have been some discussions about his achievements so far. Many claim that Kyrgios is an underachiever, something that the Australian disagreed with.
That’s definitely something I’ve heard my entire career. To say that I’ve underachieved is insanity because I know that what I’ve gone through in my life and where I’ve come from, and just sitting in this room in Canberra, Australia, the fact that someone sat here and played in front of the royal family, that’s not an underachievement at all.
Nick Kyrgios said on the Louis Theroux podcast
Kyrgios has won seven tour-level titles in his career and has made it to four more finals. However, he has not won any Masters 1000 titles as well. In the rankings, the highest Kyrgios has ever achieved is No. 13.
Nick Kyrgios claims he overachieved as an athlete
Nick Kyrgios did not just refute the claims of him being an underachiever, he topped it off by declaring that he is an overachiever. He backed his claim by stating that he has been giving it back to people over the years.
Kyrgios also said that the way he has bounced back from all the negative stuff in his life and turned them into positives counts as an overachievement. He is happy to be able to advise young and aspiring athletes.
What I’ve done in my career and what I’ve achieved as a person and how I’ve bounced back from all the negative that I’ve dealt with and then gone through and turned it into a positive and to be able to help people now and I can give advice to young kids that come up, young fans, I look at that as the biggest overachievement in any athlete that can give back.
Nick Kyrgios expressed (via Louis Theroux podcast)
Throughout his career, Kyrgios has faced criticism for his ‘not-so-appropriate’ behavior as a tennis player. However, the Australian has paid little heed to all the criticism and always stuck to his true nature.
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Ritesh Pathak
(2150 Articles Published)