Sydney (AFP)
The mother of Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios, who reached the Wimbledon final, saw a big difference in her son, noting that he “appreciates where he is” and enjoys life.
Kyrgios is preparing for Sunday’s Wimbledon final, taking advantage of the withdrawal of his Spanish opponent, Rafael Nadal, due to an injury, where he will meet the winner of the match between Serbian Novak Djokovic and Britain’s Cameron Nouri.
It is the first time that Kyrgios, 27, has reached the final of a Grand Slam tournament in his career, in a remarkable achievement after he admitted this year that he contemplated suicide, received large doses of drugs and suffered a bad phase in his life in 2019.
He also became the first Australian to reach a grand slam final since Lleyton Hewitt in 2005 at the Australian Open.
However, his mother, Nurlila, who comes from a royal family in Malaysia, revealed to the Australian “Morning Herald” newspaper, that her son began to enjoy life.
His mother, known as Neil, told the newspaper, “He appreciates where he’s come. This is the most important thing in everything that’s going on.”
She added: “Before, it was difficult for us to ask him to do certain things. He was always happy to sit in his room playing video games. His shoulder was sore from playing.
And she continued: When we were in China, we wanted him to accompany us during the walk on the Great Wall of China. Anyone can refuse this? But he refused to go because he did not want to do this. But it is completely different now.
She explained: I follow him on Instagram. Since the Australian Open this year, he has seemed to do things because he realized that life isn’t just about tennis. You have to enjoy life and I’m glad he’s doing that.”
Kyrgios is called “the naughty” or “the brawler” due to his inappropriate behavior such as spitting in the face of the crowd, breaking his racket, or even lax efforts during matches, which cost him many penalties and fines estimated at 530,000 euros during his career.
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