John McEnroe says it is “not impossible” Nick Kyrgios could retire from tennis after the US Open as the Australian hinted at as much after his win over Daniil Medvedev.
Kyrgios put in what Todd Woodbridge described as the “best match of his career” in the fourth round as he took care of the world number one to book his spot in the quarter-finals.
Speaking to media after the win, Kyrgios joked that it was potentially “three more matches” before he would “never have to play tennis again”.
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“It’s the last biggest tournament of the year,” he said.
“We got to try and just tough it out and keep pushing each other, keep being positive. We do realise it’s next week we’re going home. But three more matches potentially, then we never have to play tennis again.”
If Kyrgios is to achieve Grand Slam glory at Flushing Meadows it would be interesting to see what his future in the sport holds, particularly when considering his comments after the Wimbledon final.
Kyrgios fell short that day against Novak Djokovic but admitted post-match that if he had won he “would have struggled with motivation”.
“I’ve been told my entire life winning Wimbledon is the ultimate achievement,” he said at the time.
“It’s taken me 10 years in my career to finally get to the point of playing for a grand slam and coming up short.
“If I had won that, coming back for other tournaments, like 250s, I would have really struggled. I kind of achieved the greatest pinnacle of what you can achieve in tennis.”
Now, with Rafael Nadal upset by Frances Tiafoe in the fourth round, the draw has only opened up further on the other side should Kyrgios go deep into the tournament.
According to former US Open champion McEnroe, it is certainly a possibility that Kyrgios could walk away from the sport if he takes home the ultimate prize at Flushing Meadows.
“Well I’ve got some bad news for you. Ash Barty [retired after winning a major], so it’s not impossible to think that he could do that,” he told Eurosport.
“We hope he won’t do that because there’s a phrase, I think it’s worldwide – ‘better late than never’. That applies to Nick, because he wasn’t professional for a long time, he played a lot of matches where he wasn’t giving it his all, and now you see what he’s capable of when he does. And he trains and he’s in shape and the guy’s phenomenal.”
McEnroe said Kyrgios is entering the “prime” of his career and is a strong chance of taking out the title at the US Open given his serving prowess.
Medvedev attempted to move forward a few times to take away Kyrgios’ serve-and-volley on Monday but even that was not enough to put the Australian off his game.
“The way Kyrgios is serving, I don’t care where you stand,” McEnroe said.
“If you stand well back, did you notice he started serving and volleying. The guy is a genius on the court, he doesn’t need a coach, he did an unbelievable job tactically.
“Medvedev was throwing a lot at him – I was saying Medvedev will play long rallies, test him physically and he’ll win most of those points. Guess what? He didn’t even win most of those [longer] points.
“When Kyrgios gets down on his opponent’s serve he lets it go a little bit, paces himself, manages himself well but he’s also a lot fitter than he has ever been.”
