When Nick Kyrgios ponders why 2022 proved to be the yr he rocketed from grand slam also-ran to Wimbledon finalist, he has no hesitation in pointing to at least one “secret weapon” behind the rise.
“None of this might have been completed with out her,” he explains, reflecting on assembly girlfriend Costeen Hatzi, who Kyrgios says has remodeled his life on and off the court docket in 2022.
The pair met on the finish of final yr, a relationship straight out of the social media age which started with Kyrgios recognizing Hatzi on Instagram, messaging her about shopping for a mirror from her small enterprise after which going to satisfy her.
He was, apparently, already smitten.
However he couldn’t have imagined how his new girlfriend would find yourself altering his way of living – and to tennis.
“It has been a really profitable yr, not solely on the tennis court docket however simply basically. I am feeling actually, actually good about all the things and simply having fun with life,” he mentioned.
“And assembly Costeen was in all probability my favourite second, in all probability the most effective factor that is occurred to me – and the yr I’ve had as a extremely motivated and extremely pushed participant, has been due to her. That is been my favourite expertise.
“I simply really feel happier off the court docket, actually simply making an attempt to be glad off the court docket – and that exhibits up on the court docket too.
“She’s simply the most effective factor ever and simply makes me really feel wonderful, believes in my tennis and believes in me off the court docket too. We now have such a superb relationship.”
Hatzi has turn into Kyrgios’ rock, following him to each event, backing him at coaching and proving his fixed help, even getting an invitation on court docket at Melbourne Park after he gained the Australian Open doubles initially of the yr.
Requested if he felt she was the key weapon of ‘Crew Kyrgios’, he had little question. “That is it, that is it,” he mentioned.
Talking on the Diriyah Cup in Saudi Arabia, the place his presence on the invitation occasion for a fistful of {dollars} after exhibiting no real interest in competing on the Davis Cup for Australia a few weeks earlier brought about some stir, Kyrgios sounded as if any fuss would merely wash over him in the intervening time.
“I do not actually care if perceptions have modified of me this yr, to be trustworthy,” he mentioned.
“Both means, I do know I’ve stayed true to myself… I play the sport the way in which I need to play it.
“And no matter folks say, my stadiums are all the time full.
“Lots of people have gravitated in direction of my sort of tennis, I have been a form of icon within the sport and, clearly, been in a position to be constant in 2022.
“I suppose you might say it was a breakthrough yr.”
And will the following breakthrough be that first grand slam singles triumph, perhaps even in Melbourne subsequent month?
“Nothing’s assured,” he mentioned, when requested about his intestine feeling about his probabilities within the 2023 grand slam opener.
“I am coaching properly, having fun with it, mentally feeling good. That is all that basically issues.
“Whether or not I’m going in there and win the event or lose the primary spherical, I am the identical particular person.
“I am taking it day-to-day, I am a day-by-day particular person. I am not considering forward in any respect.”
Nonetheless, although, he’s assured his greatest probability in 2023 lies on the Wimbledon grass.
“For positive, of the 4 (grand slams) Wimbledon’s all the time been my first shot to win a slam.
“It is nonetheless true that it is my greatest probability, undoubtedly – it is the largest one and an important one.”
In Saudi Arabia, Kyrgios appeared terribly chilled on the finish of a yr wherein he has proven the tennis world his greatest.
However requested by reporters if he was nonetheless sticking to his profession plan of retiring earlier than he turns 30 in 2025, Kyrgios mused: “I needed to have a household by then and luxuriate in household time and luxuriate in all of the laborious work I’ve put in.”
“So if I’ve one other couple of years like this, I believe then I might say goodbye. However that is nonetheless two-and-a-half years away, so let’s have a look at.”
And the way does he image life for the 37-year-old Kyrgios, 10 years down the road?
“An enormous household … 4, 5 children … smoking an enormous spliff within the Bahamas … fishing perhaps,” he smiled.
“I will not be working, although. I am working sufficient now – in 10 years I will not be.”
Till then, there’s unlikely to be a uninteresting second with Kyrgios round.
