Australian Nick Kyrgios, runner-up at the 2022 Wimbledon Tennis Championships, revealed that he entered a psychiatric hospital in London after he had suicidal thoughts during the third Grand Slam in 2019, according to Australian media reported on Wednesday, citing a new episode of the “Break Point” documentary on Netflix.
And this Australian star, ranked 25 in the world, previously explained in detail the internal struggles that afflict him, his mental health, and attempts to harm himself during that dark period in his life.
But in a new series of episodes of the “Break Point” documentary, which will be released on June 21, Kyrgios said he needed hospital treatment.
“I was really thinking about whether I wanted to kill myself,” The Australian newspaper quoted him as saying.
“I lost at Wimbledon. I woke up and my dad was sitting on the bed crying so hard. That was a huge wake-up call for me. I said, well, I can’t keep doing this.
“I ended up in a psychiatric ward in London to fix my problems,” Kyrgios, 28, said.
The player posted a lengthy message on his Instagram account last year about his mental problems, and attached it to a photo from the 2019 Australian Open, in which he indicated marks on his arm.
“If you look closely, you can see my self-harm on my right arm,” Kyrgios said. I had suicidal thoughts and was struggling to get out of bed, let alone play in front of millions.”
The talented crowd-pleasing star had a rocky pre-season in 2019 and was often criticized for his on-pitch antics.
He lost to Spain’s Rafael Nadal in the second round of Wimbledon 2019, and said he was wearing a white arm sleeve to hide the signs of self-harm.
“I was drinking, doing drugs, losing my relationship with my family, and pushing all my closest friends away,” Kyrgios says in the episode, according to the newspaper.
Since then, he says, “I’ve changed completely.” He reached the Wimbledon final last year, the biggest achievement of his career.
Kyrgios returned to competition this week in Stuttgart, Germany, after he underwent knee surgery last January.
He went through many crises, the last of which was his escape from prison for two years to push his girlfriend, as he was known for his nervousness and lack of control over his emotions, even in tennis matches, some of which saw him smash rackets after suffering a loss or expressing his intense anger during matches.
