Nick Kyrgios ne relâche pas le pressing sur Jannik Sinner. Agacé par le traitement du test positif de l'Italien par les instances, l'Australien multiplie les sorties où il tacle sévèrement le numéro 1 mondial. Récemment, dans un podcast, il avait même précisé qu'il souhaitait affronter Sinner en Australie et qu'il n'y aurait aucun respect. Avant de reprendre à Brisbane contre Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, le natif de Canberra a une nouvelle fois évoqué le cas Sinner. Comme toujours, Kyrgios n'a pas mâché ses mots.
Photo / Video : @TennisAustralia
Photo / Video : @TennisAustralia
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00:00Nick, long time coming for a lot of people, mate. How's it feeling? Is there nerves? Is
00:09it what you remember from pre-tournament in the past?
00:13Yeah, look, it's just good to be back. I don't know. I mean, I'm obviously a little bit,
00:18I don't know if I'll call it nervous, more just, I guess, I mean, today when I was hitting
00:23on stadium and then playing another guy that's in the draw that's also had a couple injuries,
00:29I guess we just reflected on, you know, I mean, I look where I was at 18 months ago
00:36and you know, I had the surgery. It's been about 16 months and I just, I honestly never
00:39thought I'd be back playing at this level and even just, you know, entering an event
00:43like this, preparing and doing all the right things, but it was just surreal to be back
00:47out there and I took it all in and yeah, I'm really excited to just go out there and just
00:51play, like just play tennis and, you know, I saw Novak in the gym and playing doubles
00:55with him. There's a lot to be excited about that I'm just able to get out there and compete
01:00again.
01:01Tell us about that decision to play doubles with Novak.
01:04We kept like messaging me over and over again and then I was just like, I'll give him a
01:10little handout and give him the pleasure of playing doubles with me, but no, it's going
01:16to be a lot of fun. I mean, look, a kid from Canberra gets to play with the greatest of
01:19all time in his hometown in front of the fans is pretty special and it's something that
01:25I'm able to tell people, you know, when it's all said and done that I've played doubles
01:28with him is pretty special.
01:30Who were you hitting with?
01:32Riley Opelka.
01:33How did you feel? How's the wrist?
01:35Yeah, it felt good. It was definitely a step up, you know, returning that serve from, you
01:41know, the practice court, but it was good to go right in the heat of the pace of the
01:45ATP Tour, you know, he's got one of the biggest serves, so to test my wrist out against that,
01:48you know, obviously I play pericard, which is arguably probably the biggest serve on
01:51tour, so it was good preparation. I actually booked Riley a week ago, not knowing the draw
01:56at all, and then I came out today, so really good preparation, but yeah, I'm not even thinking
02:01about that. I'm just thinking about, you know, waking up, doing the right things for my wrist,
02:04my body, and then just trying to get back on the court and just stack the days together.
02:07Everyone's obviously wondering what level you'll be able to get to, and the serve's
02:11a big part of that. I think that was, you know, when you've been trying to get back
02:14and rallying, but where's the serve at? Where are you hoping to get it to? Can it get back
02:19to being one of the best on tour?
02:22Look, I think, you know, I've seen athletes, not necessarily tennis athletes, I mean, tennis
02:28athletes, NBA players, you know, they have horrible surgeries and they have bad injuries
02:32and they come back and everyone expects them to be back to the way they were when they
02:37were in their prime. You know, I would love to be able to go out there and play the way
02:41I played in 2022 and compete for Grand Slams, and I still believe I can. You know, whether
02:47or not that's factual or not, you know, there was another player who was like, oh, you have
02:50to be realistic, and that's just not how I am. I always back my ability, I always go
02:54out there believing I can win, so I still feel like I can produce a level that's pretty
02:59high. And, you know, I think when people are, especially against Pericard as well, I could
03:05play like Roger and still lose, and I could play the worst match of my life and still
03:08lose. That's the type of player he is. He takes the racket out of your hand. So, I think
03:13I'm playing pretty good, and I think I'm still able to, you know, play well, but to expect
03:20to be the exact same after such a, you know, it's a career-ending injury, really. You know,
03:26them tennis players never had this injury before and never come back. So, we'll see
03:31how it goes.
03:32Nick, has your relationship with tennis changed in your time away and now coming back and
03:37being part of a tournament again?
03:40I mean, it's always been a, I guess most tennis players say it's like a love-hate relationship.
03:44You go through hating it months, and then you go through loving it. But I guess for
03:50me, it was not even a tennis thing. It was just like my everyday living was affected
03:55from this injury. I couldn't carry groceries. I couldn't turn a doorknob. So, it was like
03:58to the point where tennis was like, if I'm able to play tennis again, it's just a bonus.
04:02Like it wasn't, you know, I don't look at it any differently. I'm just not going to
04:06take anything for granted. I'm going to go out there and play, and I don't know how it's
04:09going to be literally a day-by-day symptomatic injury moving forward. You know, if I play
04:13a long match or, you know, I jam it the wrong way, who knows how it's going to pull up the
04:17next day. That's just the type of injury it is. So, but I think I, you know, I enjoy still
04:23being around tennis because if I didn't, you know, obviously commentate, and I'm going
04:26to be commentating for a long time, but I didn't have to put myself back in this position
04:30of the preparation, the training, the competing, the dealing with all the media scrutiny, like
04:34going out there, putting myself basically in the pressure cooker again. I didn't have
04:37to do that, but I still think I enjoy parts of the sport. So, that's why, you know, I
04:41tried to go through that process, the hard process of getting back.
04:45You've been outspoken about Yannick Sinner and that whole situation. Can you talk about
04:50what your, what the motives are behind that? Like, is it a bit of fun? Is it about making
04:55a statement about drugs in tennis? Is it a bit of both? Tell us about that.
04:59Well, I mean, first of all, I mean, someone like me who I would never even in my entire
05:05life ever try and dope in this sport, you know, this is something that, I mean, especially
05:10going through an injury like I went through, and obviously there are things out there that
05:15could speed up healing, help me get back to prime level, you know, help my recovery. There's
05:22so many things out there that are prohibited in our sport that I could have been doing
05:26to get me back quicker. You know, two years out of the sport in my prime, basically I
05:30was 28, competing for Wimbledon, US Open, and I had an injury where I could have been
05:34doing things to get back, but that's just not who I am. And I'm always against that.
05:40So for me, when people are saying that I'm disrespectful to the sport, I think someone
05:43like that that has tried to cheat the process and actually not, you know, done it completely
05:49on their own merit is the disrespectful one, in my opinion. But that's, yeah, I mean, I
05:54have to be outspoken about it because I don't think there's enough people that are speaking
05:58about it. I think people are trying to sweep it under the rug and saying that, oh, you
06:04know, about the amount and all this. It's just like, it's not nothing about that. It's
06:07like, and there's not fair treatment for every single player. I mean, we've seen that
06:12with Max Purcell, and the reason that's different is because he went to the authorities first.
06:17He admitted that he had done something, you know, that was on the prohibited list and
06:20he was outspoken about it. That's how it should be, rather than all this sweeping under the
06:24rug and not knowing, and there's question marks. Okay, he's number one in the world
06:28and he's an amazing tennis player. I've never said he's not. And I just think the treatment
06:33has to be fair for everyone. And I just think that it's been handled horrifically in our
06:39sport, and two world number ones both getting done for doping is disgusting for our sport.
06:45It's a horrible look. And yeah, the tennis integrity right now, and everyone knows it,
06:50but no one wants to speak about it. It's awful. Like, it's actually awful. And it's not okay.
06:56So I know that people don't like when I just speak out about things and be honest about
07:02things. But for someone, a kid that grew up playing tennis, and I enjoyed the competition,
07:06I enjoyed playing, you know, I can get emotional, I can throw a racket, but that's nothing compared
07:10to cheating and taking performance enhancing drugs. That's ridiculous, in my opinion.
07:14So I'm not going to shut up about it anyway. Like, yeah. Sorry, I probably went a bit too
07:21long, but that's just my honest thoughts.
07:24You are very confident, though, that you believe he has done something wrong. Like when you
07:28say he's tried to cheat, are you certain he has done that?
07:31Well, I mean, so your question is, do I think that he failed two steroid drug tests, which
07:38factually happened? He did fail two doping tests at separate times as well. It wasn't
07:45one after the other. They were a different timeframe. So, I mean, if you think that that's
07:53the way that it got in his system, if that's how you think it's happened, then, but I mean,
08:00if he didn't do anything wrong, then why did they take his prize money and points away?
08:03Obviously, they found something wrong with it. And then obviously, why does it build
08:07it? Because of all this, like, I mean, I employ my team hundreds and thousands of dollars
08:16to be the professional they are, to make sure that doesn't happen. So they knew it happened.
08:22Then why did they wait five to six months to do anything about it? He kept his team
08:26for five months. Do you know what I mean? Like, that doesn't make sense. Like, if they
08:30knew about it two weeks after, then why did you keep the same team? I'd be livid if my
08:34team, if my physiotherapist contaminated me and put me in this position, I'd be, I'd probably
08:38never talk to the guy again. But he had the guy on his team for five months acting like
08:42nothing happened. That's as sus as anything, if you ask me.
08:47Nick, just on Novak, do you think the timing, you coming back to tennis, you playing with
08:53Novak, spending time with him this week, picking his brain a bit?
08:57I don't pick his brain.
08:58But what's that going to do for you, do you think, as far as your tennis goes, having
09:02that experience with him here?
09:05I mean, you're acting like I'm not a decent tennis player. Like, I've beaten the guy twice.
09:10Let's just, look, I've, you know, he's an amazing player, the greatest to ever play
09:15the court. But I wouldn't say I'm going out there and like, oh my God, Novak, like, you're
09:18the best. Like, please give me advice. No, I'm not like that. I just do it. I'm just
09:22going to go out there, have some fun. And I think I actually help him more because he's
09:27got to the point of his career where he wants to obviously have a bit of fun. Like, he's,
09:32you don't get to a position like that and you don't get to have a career like that without
09:36serious discipline day in, day out. And I think now he's starting to have a bit of fun,
09:39obviously employing Andy Murray as his coach. Like, he's looking for a change. He's playing
09:43doubles with arguably the most controversial tennis player. So he's obviously, I think,
09:48to the point where he just wants to, you know, have something fresh and have a bit
09:51of fun and remember that he can reward himself at the end of the day. And it doesn't always
09:55have to be super, super, like, you know, really straightforward and not fun at all. So I don't
10:00know. I don't know how it's going to be. Look, we might get absolutely snipped. We've never
10:03played doubles before. We might not win. Like, I feel like everyone thinks we're just going
10:08to mesh. We'll see. Two complete different personalities. We'll see how it goes.
10:12In the Australian Open, Nick, obviously you played Novak in Wimbledon. You went so close.
10:17But the Australian Open, how big would that be for you to win that, for you personally?
10:22Mate, I don't even want to, you know, to... I don't even think that's... I haven't even
10:28thought about the Australian Open once, honestly. With the way my body is and the way my wrist
10:31is, if I don't take a day-by-day process, I won't be able to play. Like, this week,
10:37I have to concentrate and be diligent with everything in my recovery. I can't think about
10:40the Australian Open right now.
10:43Last question.
10:46Just on that, then. I mean, we've obviously seen you throughout your career. You've played
10:49with this such bravado, etc. Has this sort of been... I don't know if humbling is the
10:54right word, but the experience of sort of the limits with the wrist as well and sort
10:58of having to... You kind of partially putting limits on yourself and your expectations.
11:03Has that been tough for you?
11:07I think the media is to blame for me playing with such bravado. I've just played the same
11:13way since I was a junior and how I am now. I've played the same way, and I guess they
11:19kind of created, like, every time he steps out on the court, there's something to go...
11:22where I've played years and years of tennis in my life, and I've played normal matches.
11:27But yeah, I mean, I don't even think it's been humbling. I actually think I'm probably
11:32one of the most humble tennis players. I've never taken myself too seriously, and I know
11:36at the end of the day, I'm just hitting a ball over the net, to be honest. So I guess
11:41it's just made me understand that I'm not young anymore, for sure. On the tour, they've
11:47got these young guys like Roon, Sine, Alcaraz. These guys are freaks of nature, and I know
11:52I'm not in that position anymore. But yeah, I'm just enjoying the ride. This is definitely
11:57the later stages of my career, so it's going to be just trying to enjoy it all.
12:01Thank you, guys.