Nick Kyrgios, after having an incredible hard court campaign earlier this year, winning the Australian Open doubles title, skipped most of the clay-court season. His decision to concentrate on the grass court campaign paid dividends as he reached the finals of the Wimbledon Championships. Following that, the Australian tennis ace who played his first ever Grand Slam finals dominated his opponents on his way to the title at the Citi Open.

After clinching both the singles and doubles trophy, he stepped on the courts of Montreal. However, there he failed to assert his dominance. While speaking to the press after his quarterfinal defeat, the outspoken Kyrgios also opened up about his changed perception of fans and media.

Nick Kyrgios’ thoughts about fans and media

Kyrgios, when asked if he finds himself more connected with the fans and on a certain level of understanding with media now, said, “The fans are great. I mean, without the fans there’s not really any excitement, there’s no sport really without fans.”

Thereafter, he added, “As for the media, I couldn’t care less. I do this because I have to be here and I don’t want to get fined. So I mean it’s routine.”

“I don’t really enjoy it, to be honest. I’d rather not be here right now.” The Aussie suffered a quarterfinals defeat against the Pole who made Federer walk out of 2021 Wimbledon Championships. Hubert Hurkacz benefited by Kyrgios’ fatigue from the long tour out-muscled him in a three set long match of 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-1.

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Now the former World No.13 is gearing up for the penultimate event to the US Open. He is all set for the ATP 1000 event at Cincinnati and will start his journey on 16th August.

Kyrgios’ first opponent

The Aussie will lock horns with the Spanish tennis professional Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the first round of the event. He will square off with the German Open quarterfinalist for a position in the last 32.

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The 27-year-old currently ranked ATP 37 will meet the Aussie for the first time in the hard courts of Cincinnati. Though as Kyrgios‘ win loss stat 30-8, is better than Fokina’s 18-20, there are high chances of him winning in straight sets.