Andy Murray and Nick Kyrgios. (Twitter)
Kyrgios expressed his gratitude to Brit Murray for spotting signs of self-harming as the Australian tennis star said he went through a phase when he had an addiction of pain during a dark time in his life.
Nick Kyrgios has revealed his gratitude to Andy Murray for spotting signs of self-harming as the Australian tennis star said he had an “addiction of pain” during a “dark” time in his life.
Kyrgios has opened up about the mental health struggles he suffered in recent years and revealed in a Netflix documentary he had spent time in a psychiatric hospital after losing at Wimbledon in 2019.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Murray has consistently been a supporter of Kyrgios, despite the latter being dogged by a series of on and off-court controversies,
Last year Kyrgios’ mother revealed how Murray had spotted the signs of her son self-harming before she did.
“Andy was always a big supporter of me,” Kyrgios told TalkTV in an interview with Piers Morgan.
“As soon as I came on the tour, he kind of saw a work in progress and took me under his wing. Then he realised later in my career that I don’t think I was coachable or I was on my own path, but he was always someone that was looking out for me.
“He saw it (the self-harm) and he said, ‘What’s that on your arm?’ It was pretty bad at that stage. I’d be in the locker room and people would be able to see my self-harm. So I could only imagine what people would think when they were actually versing me on the tennis court. They’re like, ‘Wow, this guy’s mentally in a storm at the moment and he’s still trying to play’.
“Andy obviously was trying to give me advice on it. But I was just so stuck in my ways at that time that I didn’t listen. Obviously I’m very thankful. I thank him a lot.”
Kyrgios went on to describe the extent of his self-harming, even while playing successfully on the ATP Tour.
“I think it was a year-and-a-half to two years of just complete harm. It was pretty dark to be honest,” he added.