Nick Kyrgios: “Like it or not I’m a Role Model”

Published 08/04/2019, 9:39 AM EDT

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Nick Kyrgios has been a controversial figure in the world of tennis since the past few years. For most of his career, Kyrgios is known to be the bad boy of tennis for his on-court and off-court antics. Though the Australian is extremely popular with kids, many doubts whether he is looked up by these kids or budding players.

In a post-match interview at the ongoing Washington Open, Nick Kyrgios was asked whether he gets positive energy when he interacts with his fans on social media.

He said, “I mean, there’s a lot on both sides. It’s always going to be like that. Especially someone like myself who just goes about their business the way they want to do it. There’s always going to be two sides to it.”

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Nick Kyrgios also knows that he is playing for a lot of people. A lot of people can relate to him. The 24-year-old has a massive following, as well and he feels that he is playing for a lot of people out there, not just himself.

Nick Kyrgios further continued, “At the end of the day, you try to focus on the positive. It’s tough not to see the negative as well, especially when in the click of your fingers, you go on Instagram, Twitter, you see it. Hard to block it out at times. I think I’m better.”

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Nick Kyrgios also knows that he needs to be better as a lot of kids look up to him. “Like it or not, I’m a massive role model. I’m doing all these kids days at every single tournament. They’re picking me for a reason. I know deep down there’s a lot of kids that look up to me and I need to be better,” the Australian said.

Nick kyrgios also explained why people can relate to him and he why he feels that he plays for more than just himself. He said, “I’ve got – growing up, I mean, I was a very overweight kid. I got told by coaches, teachers that I wasn’t going to be very good at what I chose to do, which was tennis, and I think people can relate to people telling you that you can’t do anything, and I feel like I’m proving a lot of people wrong.”

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Kyrgios also thinks that people can draw inspirations from him. The Australian continued, “I’ve beaten every single one of the best tennis players in the world doing it my way, and I’m never going to stop doing that. I think people can draw inspiration from that. I think you don’t listen to anyone, you just back yourself and believe in yourself, and that’s all matters.”

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Written by:

Varun Khanna

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Starting off as a tennis author in 2018, Varun Khanna has gone on to contribute to EssentiallySports in various capacities. After setting up interviews with the likes of Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou, Alizé Cornet, and Noah Rubin, Varun is now part of all major ATP and WTA press conferences and has gone on to pen more than 1300 articles for EssentiallySports. He now heads the tennis and NBA division of the organization.
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