Kyrgios Wants to Avoid ‘Crawling to the Finish Line’ Like Nadal and Murray

Nadal and Murray’s Path to Retirement

Rafael Nadal will join Andy Murray in retirement after the Davis Cup Finals next month. However, Nick Kyrgios has different ideas about how he wants to end his career.

Kyrgios, who has been sidelined by knee and wrist injuries for over two years, nearly retired when a surgeon told him he might never play again. He even attempted an unsuccessful comeback at the Stuttgart Open in June 2023. Despite these setbacks, Kyrgios confirmed he would return at the 2025 Australian Open, a comeback that has fans eager to see him back in action.

Mixed Reactions to Kyrgios’ Return

Kyrgios, known for his unique personality and flashes of brilliance on the court, has divided opinions among tennis fans. While many are excited about his return, others remain skeptical. One former world No. 3 labeled him “overrated,” highlighting his frequent injuries and questioning his commitment, even as he was the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up.

Murray and Nadal’s Long Road to Retirement

Unlike Kyrgios, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal didn’t make their retirement decisions lightly:

• Andy Murray: The three-time Grand Slam champion fought for years with a metal hip, ultimately retiring from singles play and ending his career in men’s doubles at the Olympics.
• Rafael Nadal: After two years of attempting to recover from severe injuries, especially a hip issue, Nadal, 38, finally accepted that his body could no longer handle the physical demands of the sport.

Kyrgios on Watching Murray and Nadal’s Struggles

On the Louis Theroux Podcast, Kyrgios opened up about watching Murray and Nadal’s final years in the sport, expressing his desire for a different end to his own career.

“I look at how Andy Murray’s doing it now, and how Rafael is going out—I don’t want to be like that either, I don’t want to be kind of crawling to the finish line in a sense,” Kyrgios said.

Kyrgios believes that Murray, who has achieved remarkable success, deserved a more graceful retirement, questioning if enduring surgeries and constant pain was worth it.

“What Andy Murray’s achieved in this sport is second to basically no one … unless you are Novak (Djokovic), (Roger) Federer, or Nadal. The next person is Andy Murray. You deserve to go out, I think, a little bit more gracefully than he’s done.”

Kyrgios’ Battle with Mental Health

Kyrgios also revealed personal struggles, describing a dark period where he drank heavily, often before matches.

“20 or 30 drinks (in a night). Easy. I’d drink like a fish. Anything—vodka, anything. I’d wake up and play Nadal the next day, give him a good run for his money.”