A smiling, smitten Nick Kyrgios on Thursday said that he has never felt better following his first-round win at Indian Wells — and made it clear girlfriend Costeen Hatzi is a big reason why he feels he has come of age.
The Australian overwhelmed young Argentine Sebastian Baez 6-4, 6-0 in a little over an hour.
“I’m just excited to be back at this tournament. It has been a couple years because of the pandemic, and taking time off to get my mind and body right,” he told reporters after the win.
Photo: AP
Kyrgios had become as well known for his on-court antics and outbursts as he was for his punishing serve, but he said he is finally free of the knee pain that plagued him for the past year and a half, and is in a great place emotionally.
Asked what contributed to his improved mindset, he smiled and pointed to Hatzi, who was seated in the news conference.
“I was really struggling. I wasn’t happy,” he said. “The tennis world wanted me to be a certain player and I was trying to be something that I wasn’t for so many years. It put me in a dark place. I was letting people down, I fell out with my family. It was tough.”
“One day I looked in the mirror and said that this isn’t the type of person that I’m trying to be, and now I’m a completely different person. I’m comfortable in my own skin,” he added. “I’m Nick Kyrgios, and I just go out there and play and have fun, and if I win, I win, and if I lose, I lose. Life is good.”
Asked how he celebrated the Grand Slam doubles title he won with childhood friend Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Australian Open in January, the 26-year-old said they took different paths.
“He stayed in Melbourne for three days, and I took the first flight out with my girlfriend and we went back to Sydney,” he said.
“I’ve come of age, man,” he added with a smile.
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