Nick Kyrgios thought of suicide as tennis star opens up on ‘abusing medication’

Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios has revealed he thought of suicide and hung out in a London psychiatric hospital in new episodes of the Netflix tennis sequence out subsequent week. The Australian reached his first Grand Slam remaining in SW19 final 12 months – and made a shedding return to grass-court motion after knee surgical procedure in Stuttgart yesterday.

But Kyrgios, now 28, suffered a troubled 2019 the place he was defaulted from the Rome Masters for throwing a chair and he was hit with fines totalling £89,000 ($113,000) for 5 completely different instances of unsportsmanlike conduct on the Cincinnati Masters. He was later given a suspended 16-week ban.

The Aussie misplaced within the second spherical at Wimbledon to Rafa Nadal 4 years in the past – and was photographed consuming within the Dog and Fox. Speaking in Episode 6 of Break Point throughout final 12 months’s Championships when his father Giorgos had travelled over from Australia, Kyrgios revealed: “My dad, I think he just wants me to be happy, because you know there were times at Wimbledon where I wasn’t at the best head-space.

“I was pretty bad here three years ago. 2019 was the lowest point of my career. That pressure, having all eyes on you, the expectation, I couldn’t deal with it. I hated the kinda person I was, I was drinking, abusing drugs, lost my relationship with my family, pushed all my close friends away.

“You could tell I was hurting. Like my whole arm was covered in scars – that is why I actually got my arm sleeve to cover it all. I was genuinely contemplating if I wanted to commit suicide. I lost at Wimbledon. I woke up and my dad was just sitting next to me on the bed and he was, like, full-blown crying.”

Giorgos recalled: “I told him, this is not the right path mate. You know, you have got bigger and better things to chase. He was in tears.” Kyrgios added: “That was a big wake-up call for me. I was like, okay, I cannot keep doing this. I ended up in a psych ward in London to figure out my problems.”

Kyrgios’s sister Halimah added: “I just don’t know what happened. I have just never seen someone go through (that) and that’s why sometimes, oh my God, I get so upset when someone says bad things about him. Because they don’t know.” The former world No 13 received the Australian Open doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis final 12 months earlier than reaching the Wimbledon remaining.

But he gave clues to his underlying insecurity when arriving at SW19 final 12 months. “I know I sell a lot of tickets and I sell out stadiums all around the world but I know I am not really accepted, especially in the tennis world, being a white privileged sport,” he mentioned.

“When I was young, I was told you could only make it if you ticked these certain boxes. Being bullied at a young age because I was short, fat and brown, it scared me for sure. People confuse my confidence for arrogance at times because they have no idea what I have gone through. I want to prove that I deserve to be here.”

After shedding to Novak Djokovic within the remaining, Kygios mentioned: “I definitely feel more loved and appreciated. I felt like I belong now.” In episodes of Break Point launched simply earlier than the Australian Open, he talked about his drink drawback and his “hurt” at struggling racism throughout his profession.

Break Point is aimed toward taking the game to a brand new, youthful viewers after the runaway success of Drive to Survive for Formula One. Five new episodes of Netflix’s Break Point will likely be out there on Wednesday June 21.