Nick Kyrgios has revealed how he was self-harming during Wimbledon in 2019, considered committing suicide and eventually checked himself into a psychiatric ward in London.
Kyrgios has talked of battling with mental health in the past but laid bare the extent of the issue at his lowest point in the latest episodes of Break Point, the Netflix documentary following the ATP and WTA Tours last season.
The Australian was a finalist at Wimbledon in 2022 but famously was seen partying at the Dog & Fox pub nearby during the same Grand Slam tournament in 2019.
He made light of it at the time but revealed during the documentary the severity of his mental demons, wearing a sleeve on his arm when competing in order to cover up the extent of his self-harming.
He said: “2019 was the lowest point of my career. That pressure, having all eyes on you, the expectation, I couldn’t deal with it.
“I hated the kind of person I was. I was drinking, abusing drugs, lost my relationship with my family, pushed all my close friends away.
“You could tell I was hurting. My whole arm was covered in scars – that’s why I actually got my arm sleeve to cover it all. I was genuinely contemplating if I wanted to commit suicide.
“I lost at Wimbledon, I woke up and my dad was just sitting next to me on the bed and he was like full-blown crying. That was a bit wake-up call for me. I was like, okay, I cannot keep doing this. I ended up in a psych ward in London to figure out my problems.”
The revelations coincide with his first time playing competitively this season. He last competed at the ATP World Tour Finals at the end of last year and missed his home Australian Open because of a knee injury which required surgery.
In a bid to get fit and in form for Wimbledon, he made his comeback in Stuttgart yesterday but lost out 7-5, 6-3 to Wu Yibing.
Kyrgios is heading towards Wimbledon short of match time. His last Grand Slam appearance came when losing in the quarter-finals of the US Open to Russian Karen Khachanov nine months ago.
Against Wu, he struggled with his movement and occasionally grabbed his knee. Afterwards, the Australian said on social media: “Be patient with me my fans please and hopefully I can get back to where I was.”
