‘It’s my job!’ – Nick Kyrgios explains decision to play Tokyo doubles

Nick Kyrgios says he plays doubles to take some of the stress out of tennis, but also simply because ‘it’s his job.’

Kyrgios is playing both the doubles and singles in Tokyo, although he had to survive a scare in his last 16 match against Kamil Majchrzak.

He eventually came through it 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, although many have suggested he would be able to perform better in singles if he was not expending energy in the doubles either.

Kyrgios is once again playing with Thanasi Kokkinakis in the doubles, with them becoming a regular team since winning the Australian Open in January.

“Tennis is stressful as hell in singles, you try to hold yourself in such high accountability every single time and you could be out here for three hours and it’s exhausting and so serious, playing doubles with Thanasi brings that fun element back,” Nick Kyrgios said after his win over Majchrzak.

“But at the same time it’s my job, I need to make money and that’s how I do it so I play both events.”

Kyrgios needed to find some of his best tennis to turn around his match against Majchrzak after playing an incredibly poor opening set.

However, he said once he got the pace of the court he was able to go through the gears and he was ultimately happy with his performance.

“I mean towards the end I played lights out, I forgot really how fast this court is and how big you can play on it so I started playing the right way. Play more aggressive like stop trying to rally and just trying to hit winners from everywhere.”

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