Nick Kyrgios was at his entertaining and scintillating best last week in Washington, D.C., wrapping up what he called “one of the best weeks of my life” with his sixth career ATP singles title. The 24-year-old knocked off ATP Top-10 opponents Stefanos Tsitsipas and Daniil Medvedev in the Citi Open semis and final, respectively. Then, in typical Kyrgios fashion, he hopped on a private jet with his recent rivals en route to Rogers Cup in Montreal.
Those two victories improved his record against Top-10 opponents to 5-1 on the year and improved his own ATP ranking to No. 27. The former world No. 13 is now back inside the Top 30 for the first time this year—not that it matters much to him.
"I think the ranking system is overrated," he said when informed of those numbers, after labeling himself an "anti-stat guy" in response to an earlier question. "I just go out there and play my game, and I think I can beat anyone."
Here's more from the Aussie's two weekend press conferences, as he spoke about the new habits and routines that paved the way to his title.
Q. You’ve overcome a lot this week, some frustration last night, the back spasms today [in the final]. How proud are you of your composure this week?
Nick Kyrgios: Super proud. I haven’t played many matches the last couple months. Especially just looking back at some of the places I’ve been the past six months, it’s crazy to think how much I’ve turned it around. I’ve just been working really hard, on and off the court, to try and be better as a person and as a tennis player.
As I said, I wasn’t exaggerating; this has been one of the best weeks of my life, not only on the court but in general. I feel like I’ve made major strides. I’m just going to take it one day at a time and hopefully continue on this new path.
Q. How much have you changed or learned about yourself, and how much have your grown in the two years since your previous Citi Open appearance?
Nick Kyrgios: Massive. Two years ago I didn’t give the people a good show. I was very disrespectful. Two years on, I come here and I put in a week’s performance. I came here for six days and competed every day. I left it all out there, and to walk away as a champion is pretty special. This is probably my most memorable title, honestly, so far. As you said, it’s night and day from two years ago, for sure.
Q. You’ve talked about making strides. What were you doing well, what was going right for you this week that you were consciously doing to make yourself in a better place?
Nick Kyrgios: It started off the court, honestly. A lot of habits needed to change. I’m not going to go into it with a lot of detail, but I just had a lot of unhealthy habits, and it was starting to show on the tennis court. It was too up and down; it wasn’t healthy. So I just needed to change a lot of things, and as I said, this is only the beginning. I’m going to continue to go through with these habits.
At the same time, I’m trying not to change myself, you know, playing ping pong with kids before I play. I don’t want to lose sight of who I am. I want to continue to have fun on court and be the entertainer I am. But it’s a day-by-day process.
Q. You talk a lot about motivation. We ask you a lot about motivation. But what is it that's kind of propelling you or making you want to focus on that part of your game, on having the same routine and being more consistent this week?
Nick Kyrgios: I mean, I always knew that I could produce good tennis, but the problem with me was not being able to do it every day and every week. I would go missing for a month and then show up to a tournament and maybe play well. I think it came from within that I just wanted to start being better as a tennis player and as a person and just trying to have better habits, I guess.
Q. If you feel like it, I'm wondering if you could elaborate a little bit on something you said previously. You said that you're playing for more than just yourself out there, and also that you think a lot of people can relate to you. So I'm curious why do you think that? Have people said that, or what do you think it is about you that people relate to?
Nick Kyrgios: I don't know... Growing up, I mean, I was a very overweight kid. Got told by coaches, teachers that I wasn't going to be very good at what I chose to do, which was tennis, and I think people can just relate to people telling you you can't do anything, and I feel like I'm proving a lot of people wrong. I've beaten every single one of the best tennis players in the world doing it my way, and I'm never going to stop doing that, and I think people can draw inspiration from that. I think you don't listen to anyone, you just back yourself and believe in yourself, and that's all that matters.
And for a bonus sixth question, here’s Kyrgios’ take on his famous tweeners:
Q. As I recall, it took you, I think, until the second shot of the [semifinal] match to hit your first tweener. You have wonderful skills to improvise. How do you know out there when you're going to do what you do sometimes in terms of the tweeners? I saw you hit essentially like a jump shot where you jumped up in the air to hit a drop shot. Is it kind of instinct, spur of the moment?
Nick Kyrgios: I mean, yeah, I guess it's just instinct. I mean, when I get lobbed, I think the highest-percentage shot for me is to hit a tweener. I don't like getting back and hitting a defensive lob. I think it's very predictable. I mean, I can hit a lob from my tweener or I can hit it short. I can go anywhere I want, really. For me, it's just high percentage. As ridiculous as it sounds, I just back myself. It's just completely instinct.
