Nick Kyrgios and Naomi Osaka are known to have a strong bond outside the tennis court. Both of them have struggled with mental health issues in the past. However, they always ensured they had each other’s back during the tough times. Recently the 28-year-old Aussie appeared in the podcast of ‘What now? With Trevor Noah’ and spoke about why he can relate to Naomi Osaka more than any other tennis player.

A few months ago Kyrgios was seen helping Osaka with some helpful serving tips ahead of her return to the court after a 15-month-long hiatus. Kyrgios was also the first athlete to sign up with Osaka’s company Evolve. Both of them have built up a strong camaraderie between them fighting the odds off the court. Let’s find out what Kyrgios said recently about his bonding with Naomi Osaka.

Nick Kyrgios recalls when Naomi Osaka had asked him about dealing with backlash

In 2021, Naomi Osaka withdrew her name from the French Open citing depression and anxiety as the main reason for it. This decision later took an evil turnout for the Japanese as she was almost brought to tears after a fan heckled him calling ‘Naomi you suck!’ at the Indian Wells Masters. Kyrgios himself is no stranger to the constant pressure from fans and social media. In 2019, he was even reportedly hospitalized due to suicidal thoughts after losing a match.

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So, both of them have been fighting it together for a long and here’s what Nick Kyrgios said about him relating to Osaka. ‘She’s really struggled to fit in. I think the sport like I find comfort when when she was she was on my show as well. Yeah, and we had a really good chat. And she just like she had a lot of questions for me in that sense.”

“She’s like, “How do you deal with it? Because you know, you’ve had a lot of backlash.” And I think we both just find that common ground. And like a bit we’re so different in when we came into the sport. We were like, the black sheep and like, and we just really tried to find our way and we had a sea of fans,’ Nick Kyrgios.

He added, ‘But then we had a deep sea of people that didn’t like the way we went about things. And it was like, she was like, really, like, “We both don’t give enough credit to ourselves.”

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But now, both of them have recovered from their past and they are up and running. Let’s look at what’s ahead of them in 2024.

What’s next for Osaka and Kyrgios?

Nick Kyrgios had played only one match in 2023 and has been completely out of action for a while. Fans expected him to return at the 2024 AO, but that’s not going to happen. Kyrgios recently announced his withdrawal from the major tournament on his home soil as he feels he isn’t fully fit yet. He will instead be a Guest Commentator for ESPN.

Naomi Osaka is set to compete at the first Grand Slam of the season using a protected ranking of 31 after her recent exit from the Brisbane International. Osaka will take on the French player, Caroline Garcia in her first match at the AO on Sunday. Can she take her third victory in 2024?

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