Nick Kyrgios has split opinion throughout his career, both due to his on and off-court antics.
Kyrgios was forced to miss the US Open this year, with his injury problems continuing to cause him to withdraw from the biggest tennis events.
This stemmed from a tournament over two years ago, where Kyrgios sustained the devastating injury that has stopped him from playing more than five matches since then.
Kyrgios recently reminded fans of these injury struggles, and he has now responded to those who have claimed he has underachieved in his tennis career.
Photo by Frey/TPN/Getty ImagesNick Kyrgios believes he has actually ‘overachieved’ in his career
Kyrgios last played singles at the Miami Open in March, and has continually had to withdraw from tournaments including Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open.
With his wrist injury preventing him from competing, Kyrgios is admittedly nearing retirement and he has reflected on his tennis career when speaking to Alexander Bublik on his new ‘Tea with Bublik’ podcast.
In this podcast interview, Kyrgios was asked about reaching the Wimbledon final and whether he still thinks about it.
Kyrgios responded by saying the Wimbledon final loss ‘haunts’ him, before claiming he has actually overachieved coming from where he started his career.
“It still haunts me…I think look, I guess for me winning a Grand Slam wouldn’t even be for me,” said Kyrgios. “It would just be to be left alone.
“I guess like that’s something, like for me people say I’ve underachieved and I’m one of the best players never to do things and ‘wasted his talent’, but for me I look at my journey and where I came from and where I grew up and just everything; it’s like I overachieved a lot.
“Like in my opinion, like for instance me sitting here being in New York, like you’re [Bublik] about to play another US Open, like this is all a crazy journey like so everyday I hear like, ‘Has Nick Kyrgios wasted his talent? Like he’s the biggest waste of talent ever’. It’s not easy to deal with that every single day.
“So it’s like, yeah I didn’t win Wimbledon, but like being a Grand Slam finalist has to mean something. Like, I don’t know, does it? I don’t really care.
What are Nick Kyrgios’ biggest career achievements?
Although Kyrgios may never win the Grand Slam singles title that he so desperately wanted, he has still achieved some impressive feats in his career.
The Australian has won seven ATP titles, with his last coming when he triumphed at the Washington Open in 2022.
Kyrgios also has victories over Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, something that not many players have achieved in their career.
AchievementNick Kyrgios ResultCareer-high rankingNo.13Titles won7 (4x ATP 500, 3x ATP 250)Best Grand Slam singles resultFinal (Wimbledon 2022)Win-loss record against top 10 players27-41 (39.7%)OtherWon Australian Open doubles title with Thanasi Kokkinakis (2022)
In his only Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon, Kyrgios was beaten by Djokovic, but he has found some major success on the doubles court.
At the 2022 Australian Open, Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis brushed past all the competition to win their first Grand Slam title together.