Nick Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon 2014
Full name Nicholas Hilmy Kyrgios
Country  Australia
Residence Canberra, Australia
Born 27 April 1995[1]
Canberra, Australia
Height 193 cm (6 ft 4 in)[2]
Turned pro 2013
Plays Right-handed (double-handed backhand)
Coach(es) Simon Rea (2013–2014)
Joshua Eagle and Todd Larkham (2014–)
Prize money $1,053,432
Official website nickkyrgios.org
Singles
Career record 16–13 (55.17% in Grand Slam and ATP World Tour main draw matches, and in Davis Cup)
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 34 (6 April 2015)
Current ranking No. 46 (27 April 2015)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open QF (2015)
French Open 2R (2013)
Wimbledon QF (2014)
US Open 3R (2014)
Doubles
Career record 0–5
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 474 (16 September 2013)
Current ranking No. 1215 (6 April 2015)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 1R (2013)
US Open 1R (2014)
Last updated on: 7 July 2014.

Nicholas Hilmy "Nick" Kyrgios (born 27 April 1995) is an Australian professional tennis player. He won the boys' singles event at the 2013 Australian Open and the boys' doubles event at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships. Kyrgios's biggest achievements to date are reaching the quarterfinals of the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, where he defeated Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet en route, and the quarterfinals of the 2015 Australian Open where he beat Andreas Seppi before losing to Andy Murray.

Personal life

Kyrgios was born in Canberra, Australia. He is the son of a Greek father, Giorgos ("George") who comes from the little village of Georgani in Epirus, Greece and a Malaysian mother, Norlaila ("Nill") who comes from the town of Gombak in Selangor, Malaysia.[3][4][5] His father is a self-employed house painter and his mother is a computer engineer.[6] His mother was born in Malaysia as a princess but dropped the title when she moved to Australia in her twenties.[7][8] He is the third of three children; his brother, Christos, is a lawyer, and his sister, Halimah, is an actress.[9] Kyrgios attended Radford College until Year 8 and completed his Year 12 certificate in 2012 at Daramalan College in Canberra.[10] He is of the Greek Orthodox faith[11][12] and always wears a gold necklace with a cross on it.[13]

Kyrgios was a promising basketball player who had represented the Australian Capital Territory and Australia in his early teens before making the decision to focus solely on tennis when he was 14 years old.[14] Two years later he gained a full scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport where he was able to further develop his tennis. In 2013, Kyrgios relocated his training base from Canberra to Melbourne Park in an attempt to further his career with better facilities and hitting partners.[15] A year later Tennis ACT announced a $27 million redevelopment of the Lyneham Tennis Centre in Canberra to lure Kyrgios back home and host Davis Cup/Fed Cup ties.[16] Kyrgios confirmed in January 2015 that he would be based out of Canberra and donated $10,000 towards the redevelopment.[17]

Kyrgios is an avid fan of the Boston Celtics in the NBA[18] and Tottenham Hotspur in English soccer's Premier League.[19] His sports idol is NBA player Kevin Garnett.[20] His idols growing up were Roger Federer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Lebron James, and Michael Jordan.[21]

Junior career

Kyrgios won his first ITF junior tour title in Fiji in June 2010, aged 15.[22] He started to compete more regularly on the junior tour in 2011, making his junior Grand Slam debut at the 2011 Australian Open. During 2012 he won two junior grand slam doubles titles and rose to world number three, although he had to withdraw from the Wildcard Playoff competition for the 2013 Australian Open due to injury.[23] Moving into 2013, he gained the number 1 junior ranking by defeating Wayne Montgomery in the Traralgon International final.[24] A week later he entered the Australian Open as the juniors number 3 seed and progressed to the final against fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis. After saving two set points in the first set, Kyrgios came out victorious to claim his first junior grand slam title.[25]

Tournament201120122013W–L
Junior Grand Slam Tournaments
Australian Open 3R 2R W 9–2
French Open A 2R 2R 2–2
Wimbledon 1R QF 3R 5–3
US Open A QF A 3–1
Win–Loss 2–2 11–5 9–2 22–9

Professional career

2012

In his first round qualifying match at the 2012 Australian Open, Kyrgios won the first set in a tiebreak. However, his opponent Mathieu Rodrigues cruised through the second and third sets to eventually defeat Kyrgios. Kyrgios then competed on the 2012 ITF Men's Circuit for the rest of the season, competing in tournaments in Australia, Germany, Japan and Slovenia. At the end of the season he had reached a semifinal and a quarterfinal in Australian tournaments.

2013

Nick Kyrgios at Roland Garros 2013

Kyrgios commenced the year ranked at number 838 and played his first professional tournament of the year at the 2013 Brisbane International, losing in the first round of qualifying to James Duckworth. He then lost in the first round of qualifying at the 2013 Australian Open to Bradley Klahn in straight sets. After winning the Boys' Singles, Kyrgios said he wanted to make the top 300 by the end of the year.[26]

Following his victory at the Australian Open Boys tournament, he received a wildcard into his first ATP challenger event at the 2013 Charles Sturt Adelaide International. He opened with a win against the sixth seed, Brydan Klein, in the first round. He then proceeded to defeat Suk-Young Jeong and Greg Jones in straight sets to reach the semifinal. He ultimately lost to English player James Ward in three sets in the semifinal. He then played two consecutive Futures tournaments. In the Australia F1 he reached the quarterfinal after defeating Ryan Agar in straight sets, then Jose Statham in three sets. He went down to Michael Venus in the quarterfinals. He then lost to Brydan Klein in the first round of the Australia F2 in straight sets. He was a wildcard at his next tournament, the 2013 Nature's Way Sydney Tennis International. He upset the sixth seed Brydan Klein in two sets in the first round. He went on to defeat Ivo Klec, Greg Jones, and then the fifth seed, Stéphane Robert, to reach his first challenger final. In the final, he defeated fellow countryman Matt Reid in straight sets to win his first challenger tour title at the age of 17.[27]

Kyrgios was given a wildcard into the qualifying competition of the 2013 French Open. However, on 20 May it was announced that John Millman was forced to withdraw from the main draw due to injury, which meant Kyrgios' wildcard was raised to the main draw. This meant he would compete in a main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.[28] In the first round Kyrgios had the biggest win of his career to date against the former world number 8 Radek Stepanek in three sets, each of these ending in tiebreaks, giving him the first ATP Tour level win of his career.[29] Although he ultimately lost to Marin Cilic in the following round, his ranking rose to number 213. Kyrgios later qualified for the 2013 US Open, where he was beaten by 4th seed David Ferrer in his opening match. He reached a new career high of number 186 on 9 September 2013.[30] In October, Kyrgios made the semifinal of the 2013 Sacramento Challenger, before falling to Tim Smyczek.

2014: Wimbledon quarterfinal

Nick Kyrgios at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships

Kyrgios was to commence the 2014 season by making his debut at the 2014 Brisbane International after receiving a wildcard.[31] However, he withdrew before the commencement due to a shoulder injury.[32] On 8 January, Kyrgios was awarded a wildcard into the 2014 Australian Open,[33] where he won his first-round match against Benjamin Becker in four sets.[34] He lost in the second round to the 27th seeded Benoit Paire in five sets despite winning the opening two sets.[35]

Kyrgios received a wildcard into the 2014 U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, where he lost his first-round match to Tim Smyczek in three sets.[36] Kyrgios was then forced to withdraw from numerous ATP tournaments in Delray Beach and Acapulco due to an elbow injury.[37]

Kyrgios returned at the 2014 Sarasota Open where he reached the final by defeating Jarmere Jenkins, Rubén Ramírez Hidalgo, Donald Young and coming from a set down against Daniel Kosakowski. He defeated Filip Krajinović in straight sets for his second career challenger title.[38] Kyrgios reached the final of the 2014 Savannah Challenger, where he defeated second seed Jack Sock for the title. Kyrgios received a wildcard into the 2014 French Open. He was defeated in the first round in straight sets by 8th seed Milos Raonic. Kyrgios won his 4th career challenger title and his 3rd of 2014 when he won the 2014 Aegon Nottingham Challenge beating fellow Australian Sam Groth in straight set tiebreaks.

In June, Kyrgios received a wildcard to the 2014 Wimbledon Championships. In the first round he defeated Frenchman Stephane Robert in four sets to advance to the second round, where he defeated 13th seed, Richard Gasquet in a five set thriller in which he had to come back from two sets to love down, and save nine match points over the fourth and fifth sets. In the third round, Kyrgios beat Czech Jiri Vesely in four sets, before going on to record the biggest win of his career so far by beating world number one Rafael Nadal in four sets to become the first male debutant to reach the Wimbledon quarterfinals since Florian Mayer in 2004. The shot of this match was a rear-forehand, half-volley winner from between Kyrgios' legs that David Polkinghorne of The Canberra Times described as "freakish" and "audacious".[39][40] Kyrgios subsequently lost to eighth seed Milos Raonic in four sets. Having reached the quarterfinals, Kyrgios, ranked 144th at the time, broke into the top 100 of the ATP World Rankings for the first time in his career.[41] Following his Wimbledon performance, Kyrgios' ranking rose to 66.[42] He came away with AU$409,806 in prize money for reaching the quarterfinals — having earned just $248,000 in his career before the tournament.

In the Rogers Cup tournament in Toronto following Wimbledon, Kyrgios earned his first ATP World Tour Masters event win with a first-round victory over Santiago Giraldo in straight sets.[43] Kyrgios lost in the second round to 8th-seed Andy Murray, winning just four games.[44] In the US Open, Kyrgios made it to the third round, defeating Mikhail Youzhny (seeded 21st) in four close sets, and Andreas Seppi in straight sets, before losing to 16th seed Tommy Robredo in four.

Kyrgios later played in the Malaysian Open, but lost in the first round. He decided to skip the rest of the season, citing "burn out" as his reason. He ended the year ranked 52nd in the world, and the no. 2 ranked Australian behind Lleyton Hewitt.

2015: Australian Open quarterfinal and injuries

Nick Kyrgios began his season at the Sydney International, but lost his opening match against Jerzy Janowicz in three tightly contested sets. This was followed by an appearance at the Australian Open, where he received direct entry due to his ranking for the first time. He defeated Federico Delbonis in a five-set thriller in his opening match, before going on to beat the 23rd seed Ivo Karlović in the second round and then Malek Jaziri in straight sets in the third. He then faced Andreas Seppi, who had just beaten Roger Federer in his previous match, in the fourth round. Kyrgios fell two sets behind and faced a match point late in the fourth set but recovered to win in five sets, the final set lasting 14 games. He thus became the first teenage male to reach two Grand Slam quarterfinals since Federer in 2001,[45] and the first Australian male to reach the quarterfinals since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005, and the first Australian of any gender since Jelena Dokić in 2009.[46] Kyrgios lost to eventual finalist Andy Murray in the quarterfinals in three sets. Following the tournament, he reached a career-high ranking of no. 35 in the world.[47] He later withdrew from tournaments in Marseille and Dubai due to a back injury he suffered during the Australian Open.[48] In Indian Wells, he served for the match against Grigor Dimitrov, but rolled his ankle and ultimately lost. He stated he would be out 4-6 weeks due to the ankle injury.

National representation

Davis Cup

Kyrgios made his Davis Cup debut for Australia in September 2013 against Poland at the age of 18.[49] He replaced Marinko Matosevic after defeating him in a playoff during the lead-up to the tie. He was selected to pair with Chris Guccione in the crucial doubles rubber. They lost to Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in five sets. He then went on to win his first singles rubber, after Michał Przysiężny retired five games into the match.

ATP Challengers and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 6 (5 titles)

Legend
ATP Challengers (4–0)
ITF Futures (1–1)
Outcome No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Winner 1. 3 March 2013 Sydney, Australia Hard Australia Matt Reid 6–3, 6–2
Runner-up 2. 15 April 2013 Chengdu, China Hard China Wu Di 3–6, 3–6
Winner 3. 22 April 2013 Yuxi, China Hard Netherlands Boy Westerhof 7–5, 6–1
Winner 4. 20 April 2014 Sarasota, United States Clay Serbia Filip Krajinović 7–6(12–10), 6–4
Winner 5. 27 April 2014 Savannah, United States Clay United States Jack Sock 2–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–4
Winner 6. 14 June 2014 Nottingham, United Kingdom Grass Australia Samuel Groth 7-6(7–3), 7–6(9–7)

Singles performance timeline

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated either at the conclusion of a tournament, or when the player's participation in the tournament has ended. This table is correct up to the 2015 Miami Masters.

Tournament201320142015SRW–LWin %
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open Q1 2R QF 0 / 2 5–2 71%
French Open 2R 1R 0 / 2 1–2 33%
Wimbledon A QF 0 / 1 4–1 80%
US Open 1R 3R 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Win–Loss 1–2 7–4 4–1 0 / 7 12–7 63%
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A A 2R 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Miami Masters A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Monte Carlo Masters A A 0 / 0 0–0
Madrid Masters A A 0 / 0 0–0
Rome Masters A A 0 / 0 0–0
Canada Masters A 2R 0 / 1 1–1 50%
Cincinnati Masters A A 0 / 0 0–0
Shanghai Masters A A 0 / 0 0–0
Paris Masters A A 0 / 0 0–0
Win–Loss 0–0 1–1 1–1 0 / 2 2–2 50%
Career statistics
Titles–Finals 0–0 0–0 0–0 0 / 0 0–0 0%
Year End Ranking 182 52 $768,112

Top-10 wins per season

# Player Rank Event Surface Rd Score
2014
1. Spain Rafael Nadal 1 Wimbledon, London, United Kingdom Grass 4R 7–6(7–5), 5–7, 7–6(7–5), 6–3

Records

References

  1. ↑ "Nick KYRGIOS". International Tennis Federation. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  2. ↑ http://m.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Nick-Kyrgios.aspx
  3. ↑ MICHELLE TAM (6 July 2014). "Tennis pro very close to relatives in Shah Alam, says mum". The Star.
  4. ↑ LEO SCHLINK (1 July 2014). "Rod Laver says Nick Kyrgios can put pressure on Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon tonight". NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA. Retrieved 2 July 2014. Kyrgios’ manager John Morris: “Then you’ve got the mass audience he can potentially reach in Malaysia with his Mum (Norlaila) being half Malaysian and the entire Asian community."
  5. ↑ Adam Harvey (2 Jul 2014). "Australian tennis hopeful Nick Kyrgios might be 'the one' but first he needs to play Rafael Nadal". ABC. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  6. ↑ JACQUELIN MAGNAY (27 June 2014). "Nick Kyrgios now feels the Grand Slam pressure". The Australian. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  7. ↑ MICHELLE TAM (6 July 2014). "Tennis pro very close to relatives in Shah Alam, says mum". The Star.
  8. ↑ Chris Dutton (19 September 2014). "Nick Kyrgios and royal mum, Nill, can claim tennis crown at Malaysian Open". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 September 2014.
  9. ↑ http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Ky/N/Nick-Kyrgios.aspx NICK KYRGIOS: atpworldtour.com
  10. ↑ Dutton, Chris (15 December 2012). "Kyrgios has sights on Open season". Canberra Times. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  11. ↑ TOM PERROTTA (17 Jan 2014). "For Kyrgios, a Website-Busting Australian Open Run". WSJ. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  12. ↑ Matthew Biddle. "DARAMALAN CHEERS ON NEW TENNIS STAR". MSC Australia. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  13. ↑ Michael Chammas (19 January 2014). "Nick Kyrgios is winning over fans with his fighting spirit". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  14. ↑ Pearce, Linda (25 January 2013). "Newly crowned No.1 reaps reward of choosing right court". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  15. ↑ New $27 million ACT sports centre to provide perfect home for Nick Kyrgios
  16. ↑ Nick Kyrgios ready to take next step in career and prove beating Rafael Nadal wasn't a one-hit wonder
  17. ↑ Nick Kyrgios to honour his Nanna's memory in Canberra
  18. ↑ Loving The Clay - nickkyrgios.org
  19. ↑ Tennis star Nick visits Hotspur Way - tottenhamhotspur.com
  20. ↑ Nick Kyrgios Twitter status
  21. ↑ http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/Top-Players/Nick-Kyrgios.aspx
  22. ↑ "Fanning, Kyrgios win". Fiji Sun. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  23. ↑ "Kyrgios has sights on Open season". Canberra Times. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  24. ↑ "Nick Kyrgios is the favourite for the boys' championship". The Australian. 21 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2013.
  25. ↑ "Nick Kyrgios wins Australian Open boys' singles title". Herald Sun. 26 January 2013. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  26. ↑ "Nick Kyrgios ready to jump into big time". The Australian. 28 January 2013. Retrieved 21 January 2014.
  27. ↑ "Kyrgios proves he's up to the Challenger". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  28. ↑ "Injury cruels Millman’s French bid". Tennis Australia. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  29. ↑ "Australian Nick Kyrgios upsets Radek Stepanek in opening round". ABC Grandstand Sport - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  30. ↑ "Kyrgios puts up brave fight against fourth seed". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  31. ↑ "Kyrgios and Nishikori to start 2014 in Brisbane". Brisbane International. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  32. ↑ "Nick Kyrgios shouldered aside from Brisbane International debut in setback for young gun". News.com.au. 30 December 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  33. ↑ "Eight Australians handed final wildcard entries into Australian Open main draw". ABC News. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  34. ↑ "Nick Kyrgios bucks trend as Matosevic, Duckworth bow out". The Australian. 14 January 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2014.
  35. ↑ "Rising star Nick Kyrgios falls short in epic five-set battle". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved January 2014.
  36. ↑ "Marinko Matosevic and Nick Kyrgios lose first round at the US National Indoor Championships in Memphis". ABC News. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  37. ↑ "Kyrgios withdraws from Delray Beach and Acapulco". ACELAND Tennis. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  38. ↑ "Canberra tennis ace Nick Kyrgios wins Sarasota Open in injury comeback". Port Stephens Examiner. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
  39. ↑ "Nick Kyrgios hits 'shot of the year' v Nadal - Wimbledon 2014". The All England Lawn Tennis Club. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  40. ↑ Polkinghorne, David (2 July 2014). "Kyrgios' family celebrates win as cheeky shot goes viral". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 4 July 2014.
  41. ↑ "Nick Kyrgios beats Rafa Nadal and says ‘It still hasn’t hit me what I’ve done’". Guardian. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
  42. ↑ "ATP Rankings". ATP World Tour. 7 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  43. ↑ "Andy Murray to face Nick Kyrgios in Rogers Cup in Toronto". 5 August 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  44. ↑ "Andy Murray enjoys straight-sets win over Nick Kyrgios in the Rogers Cup". The Guardian. 6 August 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  45. ↑ Marc McGowan (25 January 2015). "Kyrgios: Australian Open last-eight run tops Wimbledon". acelandtennis.com.au. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  46. ↑ "Djokovic joins Kyrgios fan club ahead of Murray clash". Special Broadcasting Service. 27 January 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
  47. ↑ Dutton, Chris (30 January 2015). "Sponsors line up to get a slice of Nick Kyrgios". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  48. ↑ Polkinghorne, David (1 February 2015). "Nick Kyrgios desperate to play Davis Cup after back injury rules him out of Marseille and Dubai". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  49. ↑ "Nick Kyrgios drafted into Australia's Davis Cup squad as Jerzy Janowicz ruled out for Poland". ABC Australia. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  50. ↑ 50.0 50.1 "Australian Open 2015: 10 fascinating facts about Nick Kyrgios’ win over Andreas Seppi". The Daily Telegraph (Australia). 26 January 2015. Retrieved 26 January 2015.

External links

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