Nick Kyrgios ready to use pressure to ‘fuel’ Australian Open challenge

Nick Kyrgios says he hopes to use the renewed pressure on him as ‘fuel’ at the upcoming Australian Open.

Kyrgios has had a transformative year both on and off the tennis court, as he at least partially conquered some of his demons and was able to focus on maximising his talent.

That saw him reach a maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, although he lost it to Novak Djokovic.

He now heads home to play the Australian Open in front of an expectant home crowd, but he says he feels ready to take that on.

“I always believe that pressure is a privilege,” Kyrgios told Eurosport.

“In real life, there’s not much pressure to being a professional tennis player. We earn great money, we travel around the world with our favourite people.

“We get to see different people, different cultures. In the scheme of things, that’s not pressure but I completely understand going on the match court with all this expectation that ‘Nick Kyrgios is legitimate chance to win a Grand Slam now’, there’s a lot of pressure there especially having the Australian Open and everyone in Australia expecting big things from me.

“It’s a lot to handle sometimes. Being in the spotlight is not easy. I feel like I’ve embraced that and I’ve taken that challenge on. It’s not easy, I’ve really worked hard to try and channel it, internalise it and use it as fuel.”

The furthest that Nick Kyrgios has ever been at the Australian Open was the quarter-finals in 2015. He did win the doubles there earlier this year, though.

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