Kyrgios feels liberated after Wimbledon final: ‘As if a burden falls from shoulders’ | NOW

Nick Kyrgios felt all the tension drain from his body after the last point in the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic. The Australian, who lost to the Serb on the grass in London in four sets, felt a lot of pressure at the Grand Slam tournament in the past two weeks.

“I lost, but it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” said 27-year-old Kyrgios at his press conference after the final: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and 7-6. ). “Every time I’m on the track I feel so much weight on my shoulders. I now feel free and amazing. This is the best feeling I’ve had in two weeks.”

Kyrgios had a tournament of extremes. The Australian enfant terrible stood out in a negative way by misbehaving in the first (spitting towards the audience) and third round (provocations towards Stéfanos Tsitsipás). This was followed by a complaint from his ex-girlfriend, who claims that she was assaulted by him in December 2021.

From a sporting point of view, Kyrgios fared a lot better. The number forty in the world reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time and reached the final battle after Rafael Nadal gave up without playing. In it he took the first set, but Djokovic showed resilience and peaked at the right moments.

‘I felt like I belonged in this place’

When Kyrgios was asked shortly after the match if his first Grand Slam final tastes like more, he came up with a witty answer. “Absolutely not, I’m honestly tired,” said the flamboyant Australian, who talked a little more seriously about his scoop at his press conference.

“I felt like I belong in this place. My level has always been good, but I felt like everything had come together in recent weeks. I played a final against one of the best players of all time and I stood my ground. That gives confidence.”

Despite the first Grand Slam final in his career, Kyrgios will not rise any places in the world rankings, because there were no ranking points to be earned at Wimbledon. The ATP made that decision because the organization decided to ban Russians and Belarusians because of the war in Ukraine.