Nick Kyrgios believes he can win multiple majors.
The question he can't answer is whether he really wants to do it.
TN Interview: Bryan Brothers Talk US Open, New Coach
In a new interview with The New York Times Magazine titled The Electric, Infuriating Nick Kyrgios, the 16th-ranked Aussie says he can shift into cruise control and still enjoy a productive career ranked between No. 10 and 20.
Asked what advice he would give himself if he truly wanted to win majors, Kyrgios replied: "train more than four times a week.”
“I don’t have a doubt that if I wanted to win Grand Slams, I would commit,” Kyrgios told the Times writer Michael Steinberger. “I’d train two times a day, I’d go to the gym every day, I’d stretch, I’d do rehab, I’d eat right. But I don’t know what I want at the moment. Am I content? I don’t have a coach, I can train every now and then. I can take it easy and be maybe 10-20 my entire career. Am I O.K. with that? I don’t know.”
While he continues to play without a coach, Kyrgios has sought advice from Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt, who mentored both Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic at the 2015 US Open, and Czech veteran Radek Stepanek.
After defeating Stepanek in his Wimbledon opener in June, Kyrgios said he would consider hiring Stepanek as a coach when his playing days are done.
"When he stops, he might step into a role where I might bring him along to tournaments," Kyrgios said at Wimbledon. "I don't know. I'm more than willing to give it a go with a guy like that, that has had such great success for a long time."
The 37-year-old Stepanek told The New York Times Magazine he's advised Kyrgios on tactics and opponents' tendencies, but said he has no interest in serving as a full-time coach at the moment.
“I told him, ‘If you don’t want to be here, then you should go home,’ ” Stepanek said in reference to Kyrgios' consistent chorus of "I don't love tennis."
Former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, who coached a teenage Kyrgios on the Australian Junior Davis Cup squad, said Kyrgios has as much natural ability as the young Rafael Nadal, but suggests Kyrgios is currently uncoachable.
“You have to be willing to listen, and you have to have some respect,” Cash told The New York Times. “His behavior toward a lot of people shows that he may not be good at either of those things.”
Photo credit: Mutua Madrid Open