Nick Kyrgios has spoken about his experience of playing alongside Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka during the recent IPTL exhibition.
The three men were part of the winning team of this year’s IPTL exhibition league, the Singapore Slammers. Throughout the event Kyrgios produced an impressive 49 aces, the most produced by a player in the entire tournament. Speaking about his triumph at the tournament, the Australian spoke positively about world No.2 Murray.
“Having Muzza (Murray) around for a few days was awesome, I love him, he’s so good to be around”. He said.
The two men have shown mutual respect for each other throughout this year. During the Wimbledon Championships Murray jumped to the defense of Kyrgios. Shortly after his fourth round win over Ivo Karlovic, the Brit spoke about Kyrgios during his after-match press conference. Discussing the media frenzy surrounding the 20-year-old, Murray told reporters that ‘it is hard for players growing up in the limelight’. The two men visibly get on with each other, recently the Australian jokingly disrupted Murray during a TV interview.
One of the most anticipated events during the IPTL was regarding how Kyrgios would get on with French Open champion Wawrinka. Prior to the IPTL, the two men haven’t spoken to each other since Kyrgios’ famous outburst at the Canadian Open. Midway through an intense match, the Australian was caught on camera saying ‘Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend’ across the court to Wawrinka. Four months after the incident, which results in Kyrgios receiving a six-months suspended sentence from the ATP, the two men have moved on from the incident according to Kyrgios.
“”Everyone knows the history between Stan and I and I was so pleased we were able to put it all behind us and move on for the sake of the Singapore Slammers and the rest of our team”. The world No.30 said.
“Stan played unreal and clinched the title for us on the last day with some unreal tennis to cap off a great three weeks that I just did not want to end.”
At 30th in the world the 20-year-old is still chasing after his maiden title on the ATP World Tour. This year Kyrgios reached his first ATP final in Portugal before losing to Richard Gasquet. The youngster is capable of beating the best in the world, but has at times lack consistency throughout the year. One of his biggest wins this year was against Roger Federer at the Madrid Open. Looking ahead to next year Kyrgios has refrained from setting out a specific goal and has instead pledged to improve on his athletic performance.
“I am not someone who looks to put numbers and rankings as my goals at the start of the year and next year will be no different”. Kyrgios revealed.
“I will keep focusing on improving as an athlete and a tennis player, working hard to get fitter, stronger, faster whilst aiming to get the best out of my tennis and making gains where possible.
The first event of 2016 for Kyrgios will be the Hopman Cup. He will play in the Australian Green team alongside Daria Gavrilova.
