Nick Kyrgios is More Than a Tennis Star! - What Now? with Trevor Noah Podcast

Trevor Noah 0:00 [funky music]

Trevor Noah 0:00 Okay, I'm ready if you're ready.

Speaker 0:01 Yeah. Yeah, just a quick-

Trevor Noah 0:04 Happy-

Speaker 0:05 Sorry. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 0:05 Oh, okay. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.

Speaker 0:06 I really fucked that up. [paper crumpling]

Trevor Noah 0:12 This is What Now? with Trevor Noah. Happy Nick Kyrgios Day, everybody.

Speaker 0:26 Happy Nick Kyrgios Day. Happy Nick Kyrgios Day.

Trevor Noah 0:29 And you know, I was thinking about this. I was thinking about how sports have a personality. The sport is the way it is, and for a long time that's how the sport sees itself. So tennis is a perfect example, right? You have a sport where initially it was very calm, very rich English people wearing white clothes, and they would hit the ball to each other, and they would politely clap.

Speaker 0:51 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 0:52 "Bravo, Michael. Bravo, bravo. Great job." And in every sport, there's always somebody who comes along who shakes things up. It's not just, like, who they are, but it's how they play. It's how the game sees them. It's how they see the game. You know, I think of it, in golf it was Tiger Woods, obviously, you know? I remember the f-

Speaker 1:12 Mm-hmm

Trevor Noah 1:12 ... the furor. Do you, do you remember how crazy people got when Tiger Woods did the fist pump after he won?

Speaker 1:19 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:19 Like, people ... I remember that being a scandal in golf. People were like, "Is that, is that for golf? Should that be something that people do in go- I don't know if he should be ... This guy is ..." They, they made it seem like Tiger Woods, like, did a drive-by shooting on the golf course.

Speaker 1:34 I know nothing-

Trevor Noah 1:35 I just want you to-

Speaker 1:35 ... about golf, and that is absolutely burned into my brain, that image of him. And I know nothing about-

Trevor Noah 1:41 Right?

Speaker 1:41 ... that sport.

Trevor Noah 1:42 And that's why he's so important to the sport, because Tiger Woods basically brought ... I mean, just l- let's put it this way. He brought a relative amount of swag to the game of golf.

Speaker 1:52 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:52 He brought ... He's super swaggy for golf. Let's put it that way.

Speaker 1:55 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 1:55 And I think every sport has that person. They come in, and everyone who's, like, traditionalist, you know, complains about the person who comes in because of what they do. But Nick Kyrgios is that player in tennis.

Speaker 2:08 Hm.

Trevor Noah 2:09 If you hate tennis or if you think it's boring, you love Nick Kyrgios. And if you love tennis, then you'll have an opinion on Nick Kyrgios, because this kid came into the game, and I, and I say kid purposefully because when, when Nick Kyrgios started playing tennis, he came in as a teenager. No one expected anything from him. He was playing in Australia. He didn't even play tennis from, like, the youngest age. Like, people normally start when they're, like, two years old. Nick didn't really do that. He didn't really focus on the game in the same way. He comes in. He's playing against Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest of all time, at one of the biggest tournaments ever. He beats him, and everyone in the world is like, "Wait, who's this kid?" And then he just proceeds to, like, play the game the way nobody has ever played it. I mean, like, he, like, hits the ball behind his back. He hits it through his legs. He'll, like ... And then also, he's, he's got a lot of personality, you know? I, I, I, I ... He reminds me in many ways of John McEnroe-

Speaker 3:04 Mm

Trevor Noah 3:04 ... but less rude. I know that sounds like a crazy thing to say about John McEnroe.

Speaker 3:09 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 3:09 And I liked him for that. But, like, John McEnroe had that, like, "Your mother. You, you goddamn ... You ..." You know what I mean? Which I loved, but Nick is just, like, he's just, he's an emotional player who's changing the sport, and one of the biggest things he's changing in the sport is the fact that he seems to not care.

Speaker 3:27 Hm.

Trevor Noah 3:29 He plays tennis, and then he goes home. He has almost no passion for it, which really pisses people off, by the way. There's a lot of people who are like, "You should be grateful, young man, for having..." And he's just like, "Nope, it's my job, and that's it."

Speaker 3:44 All you have to do is appreciate a good villain. He's not a villain, but, like, in the game of tennis, there are heroes or people that are, like, held to that standard. And then Nick comes in, and people can't deal with it. And I live for it. [laughs] Live for it.

Trevor Noah 4:01 He's amazing. He's amazing. Can I tell you, can I tell you what, what makes Nick so amazing in my opinion, is that like any great villain that is written into a story, you actually come to find that they're not the, quote-unquote, "bad guy".

Speaker 4:18 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 4:19 Like, I, I often think whenever I'm watching a movie or I'm reading a really well-written story, there's a moment in the story where you go, "Oh, wait. Is this the villain?" And I think in many ways Nick Kyrgios is painted as the villain, but the more you get to know him, his life, and the sport, you're like, "Huh, maybe tennis is the villain."

Speaker 4:41 Yeah. Ooh. It's kind of like how Disney recently has been reframing villains. Like, Maleficent gets her own story-

Trevor Noah 4:47 Yes

Speaker 4:48 ... and you realize, hey, she had a reason to spurn that little baby in the bassinet.

Trevor Noah 4:52 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 4:52 And Nick has his reasons-

Trevor Noah 4:54 Mm-hmm

Speaker 4:54 ... for, you know, making people clutch their pearls at the US Open.

Trevor Noah 4:59 Yeah. Yeah. So I'm really, really fascinated to speak to him because, um, one, he's a maverick in tennis, two, he's one of the most genuine people you'll ever have a conversation with, and three, I think the sport needs him if it hopes to survive what is gonna be one of its biggest transitions from the legends like Roger Federer and, you know, uh, Nadal and, you know, Djokovic and all, all, all, all of these m- all of these legends. As they slowly age out of the game, there's only gonna be one name that gets new people in to watch tennis, and it's gonna be Nick Kyrgios. So I'm, I'm really excited. I don't even wanna waste more of your time. Let's jump into it. Nick Kyrgios. [funky music] Nick Kyrgios, what's going on, my dude?

Nick Kyrgios 5:47 Nothing much. Just touched down back in Australia and spending time with some, uh, my fam. Haven't seen them in a little bit.

Trevor Noah 5:52 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 5:52 And yeah, just, just, just chilling.

Trevor Noah 5:55 You've been watching the, um, the, the NBA playoffs or the ... Well, not the playoffs. It's this weird in-season tournament.

Nick Kyrgios 6:01 In-season, in-season tournament.

Trevor Noah 6:01 You been watching it?

Nick Kyrgios 6:02 Yep.

Trevor Noah 6:02 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 6:02 Loved it. Yeah, watched it. Thought it was a great idea, great idea for the league

Trevor Noah 6:06 It's funny, I saw, I saw, like, Kevin Durant, he said, um, he hated the idea when he first saw it come out.

Nick Kyrgios 6:11 Mm.

Trevor Noah 6:11 And then even after he lost, he was like, "This was the most exciting tournament they've played in a long time."

Nick Kyrgios 6:16 Yeah, that tends to be how it is. I mean, athletes, we get pretty stuck in our ways, so a bit of... We don't like change, and then I guess, you know, when it, when it actually benefits the league that we find out, and it was, it was a good idea I think, though.

Trevor Noah 6:26 Who's your team in the NBA? 'Cause I know you've always... You've been a huge fan-

Nick Kyrgios 6:29 Boston

Trevor Noah 6:29 ... for a long time.

Nick Kyrgios 6:29 Yeah. I'm a-

Trevor Noah 6:29 Boston through and through?

Nick Kyrgios 6:30 I'm a, I'm a big Bo- yeah, big Boston guy. Like-

Trevor Noah 6:32 Why Boston?

Nick Kyrgios 6:33 I watch every single game. Um, don't know. I just, in 2005 picked up my first video game and picked the Boston Celtics. Ever since then-

Trevor Noah 6:40 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 6:40 ... just been a religious fan.

Trevor Noah 6:41 It's always interesting seeing how people become a fan of a team, you know? Um, I, I think I became a fan of many individual players in football because of like, um, you know, European football soccer-

Nick Kyrgios 6:50 Mm

Trevor Noah 6:50 ... because of video games, like playing FIFA.

Nick Kyrgios 6:53 Yeah. FIFA's-

Trevor Noah 6:53 And then-

Nick Kyrgios 6:54 Phwoar.

Trevor Noah 6:55 What are you, what are you playing right now? You, you said you, you, you video... You, you game-

Nick Kyrgios 6:58 Uh, Call of Duty

Trevor Noah 6:58 ... you still game?

Nick Kyrgios 6:59 Yeah. Call of Duty, Fortnite, Pokemon, everything. I'm just like-

Trevor Noah 7:02 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 7:02 ... I'm obsessed. I'm the biggest gamer you'll ever come.

Trevor Noah 7:05 How, how good, how good are you?

Nick Kyrgios 7:06 I'm very good. Yeah.

Trevor Noah 7:07 Like very, very good?

Nick Kyrgios 7:08 Yeah, like I'm a s- I'm a... We call 'em sweaties or sweats. Like I'm a sweat.

Trevor Noah 7:11 Oh, wait, you're a sweat?

Nick Kyrgios 7:12 I'm a fucking sweat, yeah.

Trevor Noah 7:13 What's your-

Nick Kyrgios 7:14 I'm a sweat, bro

Trevor Noah 7:14 ... what's your-

Nick Kyrgios 7:14 I-

Trevor Noah 7:14 What's your loadout-

Nick Kyrgios 7:15 Dude

Trevor Noah 7:15 ... on Call of Duty?

Nick Kyrgios 7:16 I need-

Trevor Noah 7:16 Like do you-

Nick Kyrgios 7:17 I, h- I'm trying to... Actually I'm a fuck it, I'm just gonna move this. I'm gonna show you my PC right now.

Trevor Noah 7:20 Right.

Nick Kyrgios 7:21 Look at my PC, bro.

Trevor Noah 7:22 Oh, nice. Is that water-cooled? What is that?

Nick Kyrgios 7:24 Yeah, it's like it's, it's, it's just like-

Trevor Noah 7:26 That's beautiful

Nick Kyrgios 7:26 ... very over the top, and look, you can see the little thingy-

Trevor Noah 7:27 That's beautiful

Nick Kyrgios 7:28 ... see that little thingy wooden?

Trevor Noah 7:28 Oh, I see. Okay. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 7:29 I'm balanced.

Trevor Noah 7:30 Mm.

Nick Kyrgios 7:30 Like I was saying.

Trevor Noah 7:30 You've got the GeForce in there. I like that.

Nick Kyrgios 7:32 Bro, I'm like, uh, just kind of obsessed, bro.

Trevor Noah 7:33 Customized CPU.

Nick Kyrgios 7:35 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 7:35 You've got the LEDs.

Nick Kyrgios 7:35 Yeah. See, you know-

Trevor Noah 7:36 You've got everything else going

Nick Kyrgios 7:36 ... you, you're a sweat, too, bro. What the hell? [laughs]

Trevor Noah 7:38 No, no, I'm not a sweat. I wish I was a sweat.

Nick Kyrgios 7:39 Yeah, you are.

Trevor Noah 7:40 I just-

Nick Kyrgios 7:40 You are. You are

Trevor Noah 7:40 ... I just not playing.

Nick Kyrgios 7:41 No, you are, bro. You are.

Trevor Noah 7:42 No, no, no, no.

Nick Kyrgios 7:42 You've got that anonymous, anonymous name online that you're like getting-

Trevor Noah 7:44 No, I wish

Nick Kyrgios 7:44 ... them like 12-year-old kids.

Trevor Noah 7:45 I genuinely-

Nick Kyrgios 7:46 Yeah, you are

Trevor Noah 7:46 ... I wish I was a sweat. I, I started, I only started playing Warzone in the pandemic. I've always been like a, I've always been like a FIFA player.

Nick Kyrgios 7:53 FIFA.

Trevor Noah 7:53 That's been, that's been my-

Nick Kyrgios 7:54 Warzone's fun, though, during the pandemic.

Trevor Noah 7:55 No, Warzone's great. Warzone's great.

Nick Kyrgios 7:56 How good is it?

Trevor Noah 7:57 Warzone's great.

Nick Kyrgios 7:57 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 7:58 Yeah, but then once my KD-

Nick Kyrgios 7:59 Those were, those were good times, bro

Trevor Noah 8:00 ... once my KD went above 1.1, then it stopped being fun, 'cause I got put in lobbies with sweats like you.

Nick Kyrgios 8:04 Yeah, yeah, sweaty. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 8:06 [laughs] And then it's not fun anymore.

Nick Kyrgios 8:09 That's so funny, bro. That's so good. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 8:12 Yeah, then it's not funny anymore. It's not cool. Now I'm just like, oh, no, I, I wanna be in like the, the low KD.

Nick Kyrgios 8:17 Yeah, just the-

Trevor Noah 8:18 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 8:18 ... the, the, just the normal. Nor- the standard-

Trevor Noah 8:20 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 8:20 ... like the honest sweats.

Trevor Noah 8:21 .45 is a good game to be playing. That's like a nice day, a, you know, a nice adventure.

Nick Kyrgios 8:26 So funny.

Trevor Noah 8:27 Was there a tennis person you, you were a fan of when you got into the sport? 'Cause your story's interesting in that, like, it seems like from everything I hear about you, everything I've read about you, it doesn't seem like Nick Kyrgios was that into sport until he got into sport. Is this true, or is this just a myth?

Nick Kyrgios 8:42 Yeah. Yeah, I was... I didn't really like sport that much, um, growing up. But then I think my mum, you know, eventually saw I was pretty, I was pretty chubby and I wasn't active that much as a kid, and she was kind of like, "All right, let's, let's start doing some stuff." She just took me down to the local tennis center and I pr- fair to say I hated it. I didn't like tennis at all. And then, you know, I loved basketball. Fell in love with basketball.

Trevor Noah 9:05 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 9:05 And then played both. Um, but I didn't really have any role models either growing up, like in the sporting world. Like I didn't really watch that much sport. Um, I was like big into video games. Um, actually took like my studies really seriously. And then, yeah, just had no real role models, and then I kind of fell in love with basketball players now as I was playing tennis, and they were two conflicting sports.

Trevor Noah 9:26 Right.

Nick Kyrgios 9:26 And obviously I've been absolutely shredded for, you know, my personality or the way I go about things in tennis because it's a very-

Trevor Noah 9:32 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 9:32 ... you know, in the box type of sport and, and yeah.

Trevor Noah 9:35 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 9:35 So I didn't really have any role models, but yeah, I guess that's been part of the journey, so it's been pretty cool though.

Trevor Noah 9:41 Yeah, it's, it's an, it's an interesting journey to go on because like how does somebody get into a sport? How do they become good at the sport, and why that sport? Like I, I, I don't think people understand how unlikely it was for you to get into tennis, you know?

Nick Kyrgios 9:54 Yeah, it was very unlikely.

Trevor Noah 9:55 You, you, you were what? 13, 14 when you got into the, into the sport?

Nick Kyrgios 9:58 Uh, I played at s- seven. Seven years old was my-

Trevor Noah 10:00 Seven?

Nick Kyrgios 10:01 ... when I picked up, when I picked up a racket, yeah.

Trevor Noah 10:03 Oh, wow.

Nick Kyrgios 10:04 Yeah. Yeah, so it's basically my whole-

Trevor Noah 10:05 Why, okay, why, why tennis?

Nick Kyrgios 10:06 ... life, about 20 years.

Trevor Noah 10:06 Did your mom, did your mom ever say, "Why tennis?"

Nick Kyrgios 10:08 Um, well, in Australia tennis is like one of our biggest sports. It's cricket and tennis. Um-

Trevor Noah 10:12 What about Aussie Rules?

Nick Kyrgios 10:13 And then both of them-

Trevor Noah 10:13 There was no, no Aussie Rules growing up or footy?

Nick Kyrgios 10:14 Yeah, I know, but I, I, I, I can't really... No.

Trevor Noah 10:17 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 10:17 I can't, can't buy into a sport that's not played out of Australia. I, I don't know.

Trevor Noah 10:20 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 10:20 I think it's a bit of a joke, to be honest, um, on the record. Um-

Trevor Noah 10:24 Who was your... Wait, wait. Who was your biggest player back then? I don't... I'm trying to think of Australian tennis stars.

Nick Kyrgios 10:28 Well, Lleyton Hewitt, Pat Rafter. Like Pat Rafter-

Trevor Noah 10:30 Yeah, okay. Okay

Nick Kyrgios 10:30 ... Lleyton Hewitt.

Trevor Noah 10:31 Lleyton Hewitt.

Nick Kyrgios 10:31 We had, we had like a-

Trevor Noah 10:32 Yes

Nick Kyrgios 10:32 ... pretty rich culture in it and, and then like my local tennis center's like literally two minutes away, so that wa- I guess it was easy for them, but, um, I absolutely hated it.

Trevor Noah 10:42 What did you hate about the sport? What was the thing you hated most?

Nick Kyrgios 10:43 I just didn't like it. I just, I just didn't like... I, I just didn't feel... I never feel like I could express myself the way I wanted to, and then I realized that I could later on in my career and really sh- like shit stir people.

Trevor Noah 10:53 Right.

Nick Kyrgios 10:54 Yeah, just look, I mean, look, I didn't really grow up with, like, you know, in a, in a rich family or anything. So I knew-

Trevor Noah 11:00 Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 11:00 ... I, I was very soon to realize that it was a way to kind of, um, help my family and help my friends and, and provide for my people and, and, and build a life for w- far beyond my- myself. So that's when I realized that, you know, that that was the kind of journey that I had to kind of do. 'Cause like to say I would make it in NBA, I don't think I would. So it was just an easier, it was like an easier route for me, I guess, to, to make it out. [laughs]

Trevor Noah 11:24 Did that, did that a- add a lot of pressure to it though? Like when you're playing a sport that's not just a sport, it's something that supports your family, can lift your family-

Nick Kyrgios 11:31 Yeah

Trevor Noah 11:31 ... out of the place they're in, I mean, that- doesn't that come with an extra amount of pressure that the other kids don't have?

Nick Kyrgios 11:36 Uh, definitely. I think for sure. But I, I, I guess the cool thing about my childhood is I didn't know any different. My mom and dad always made me feel like I had enough, and I had the, I had the best childhood. Like I didn't-

Trevor Noah 11:45 That's great. Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 11:46 ... know that I was, you know, didn't have a lot. Um, so... Uh, but I, I got hit with a lot of pressure and expectation early. As soon as I was 17, 18, I kind of broke onto the scene. That's when-

Trevor Noah 11:56 Uh-huh

Nick Kyrgios 11:57 ... I mean, Australia kind of put this, I mean, like the weight on my shoulders for an 18-year-old, I think. You know, to look back at it, I think I did pretty well, um, with dealing with it. But-

Trevor Noah 12:07 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 12:07 ... it's not normal for someone that young to deal with the spotlight and the fame and, and, and the pressure, especially with social media and all this bullshit-

Trevor Noah 12:13 Right, right, right

Nick Kyrgios 12:13 ... that comes with it. It's like mental, mental, like y- People wonder why I am the way I am. I'm like, it just, the, my experiences of what I went through kind of, you know, made me a bit, like, my screws are a bit loose I think.

Trevor Noah 12:26 I, you know, I, I always wonder that. I, I remember talking to, to some friends about this, about the age we grew up in and then the age that people grow up in now. And I was like-

Nick Kyrgios 12:35 Mm-hmm

Trevor Noah 12:35 ... do you ever think for, do you ever take for granted, you know, I remember when, like, Justin Bieber was blowing up. And-

Nick Kyrgios 12:40 Mm.

Trevor Noah 12:40 I mean, Justin Bieber's obviously a lot younger than me, and you know, uh, and I, I would think to myself, I'd go, "We're judging this kid, but if you took away his fame, he's, he's a child." Do you know what I mean?

Nick Kyrgios 12:52 Yes.

Trevor Noah 12:52 It was literally like it's news headlines about a child. And I would say to my friends-

Nick Kyrgios 12:56 Yeah, it's very strange

Trevor Noah 12:56 ... all the time, I go, "Do you remember the amount of shit that we would get up to at that age?" But there was no-

Nick Kyrgios 13:01 Yeah

Trevor Noah 13:01 ... there's no journalism. There's no reports are coming after you.

Nick Kyrgios 13:03 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 13:04 You're just a kid getting up to shit. It's between you, your parents, and maybe the school.

Nick Kyrgios 13:08 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 13:08 You know? But I, I can't imagine what it was like for you at that age being seen as not just a professional athlete, but as you say, like a, like a bastion of Australian sport. Like, one minute you're just Nick-

Nick Kyrgios 13:20 Yeah

Trevor Noah 13:20 ... and the next thing you know, you know, you're the face of tennis in Australia, and, and quickly in the world, by the way.

Nick Kyrgios 13:27 Yeah. I mean, look, I was ... It was, it was hard 'cause I actually was just a normal kid. Like, I was still at school.

Trevor Noah 13:32 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 13:32 I had my school friends. I would just be doing normal kid things, and then I would live this alternate life of, like, carrying the burden of Australian sport, trying to win a Grand Slam, playing Federer, playing Nadal. And I'm just like, I don't really, I didn't really take it very serious. And that-

Trevor Noah 13:47 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 13:47 ... that's, I guess that's what I kinda got smashed for was like, "Oh, you're doing this, and you're lucky to do this." And I never saw it as I was lucky to do it. Like, I worked every single day to get to where I was.

Trevor Noah 13:57 Yeah, yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 13:57 Like, so people are like, "Oh, you're so extremely blessed to be there," and which I am. Like, I guess, I'm, I'm not saying, like, a bit of luck was needed to get there as well.

Trevor Noah 14:04 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 14:04 But so, like, I just picked my hand in a, in a hat and pulled out, like, oh, like, professional tennis player. Like-

Trevor Noah 14:09 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 14:09 ... that's why I just can't stand people like, "Oh, your life must be a m-", like, it's like, bro, it was, like, a lot of hard yards to get here. Um, but yeah, it's just, like, it was crazy. I, I, I re- I just, like, I didn't take myself seriously enough. Like, I saw my, my name on the list of, like, Federer, Nadal, like these gods of, of sport, and I just saw my name there. I was just like, "What a joke." Like, I was like-

Trevor Noah 14:32 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 14:32 ... "This, it's, it's all a joke."

Trevor Noah 14:33 Did you, were they, were they your heroes growing up, or was it still all basketball for you? It was just, you were just-

Nick Kyrgios 14:38 Yeah, no

Trevor Noah 14:38 ... you were, like, in an office it sounds like to me. It's like you worked at, at, like, an accounting firm es- essentially. You know what I mean? It's like a job.

Nick Kyrgios 14:43 Yeah. I, I was just at school. I was just chilling, like, and then I just, like, started beating these players. And then I just, I guess in a way it was good, but a, uh, like, it wasn't good because then I kinda lost a bit of respect for, like, 'cause people idolize these people. And I was like-

Trevor Noah 14:58 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 14:58 ... "Yeah, I beat them at-

Trevor Noah 14:59 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 14:59 ... 18 and 19." I was like, "Well, anyone can do it then. Like, if I can do it, anyone can do it."

Trevor Noah 15:05 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 15:05 And then people are like, "Oh, you should be ... " And then it was like the rat race of things like, "Oh, you should win now Grand Slams, or you should ... " And I was like, "That was never my goal." It was never my intention to go out there and be like Roger. It was, like, to show people that someone like me from the small town could go out there and compete and beat some of these, like, I mean, gods, in my opinion.

Trevor Noah 15:23 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 15:23 I think it's hilarious.

Trevor Noah 15:24 Yeah. I, I remember having a conversation with, um, with Roger Federer about you. And it was actually, it was, um, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Bill Gates was hosting a charity-

Nick Kyrgios 15:35 Yeah

Trevor Noah 15:35 ... tennis tournament in Cape Town in South Africa. And we, we're just chatting about the whole game, and your name came up. And man, I wish you could see the eyes of the players when they're talking about you. The, the one thing that Roger kept on saying, which was almost frustrating w- to him when he said it, was he's like, "This kid is effortless." He's like, "This guy does ... " He was like, "What Nick does in tennis when he's not trying is what all of us work our asses off to try to do." You, uh, like, do you, do you get that from the other athletes in the sport? 'Cause I mean, let's forget about the press and everybody for a moment. Like, people write out-

Nick Kyrgios 16:14 Mm-hmm

Trevor Noah 16:14 ... their asses all the time. Everybody thinks they know a sport from the outside. Everyone has opinions. But I always find if you want some of the truest opinions, you go into the sport.

Nick Kyrgios 16:22 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 16:22 You talk to the people who actually do it every single day.

Nick Kyrgios 16:25 Definitely.

Trevor Noah 16:25 And they'll give you a different understanding. Like, do, do, did you get that feeling from, from, from the other tennis pros that they felt like you came with something special just in the way you, the way you struck the ball, the way you understood the ball, the way you played the game?

Nick Kyrgios 16:39 Uh, yeah, definitely. I mean, I got told a lot from other athletes, and Roger, and stuff like, yeah, like, you know, past players were saying like, "Oh, he's the most talented." And then I guess, I don't know when I kind of lost ... I not, not lost interest, but I guess kind of just I didn't take it that seriously. I never really fully bought in, I think, to the process of, like, tennis being, like, really, really important. Like, I still-

Trevor Noah 17:05 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 17:05 ... today sit here, and I don't think it's that important. Like, I know-

Trevor Noah 17:08 It's not, it's not, it's not number one on your list, right?

Nick Kyrgios 17:10 It's not. It's just not. It's just, like, it, it's been a great vehicle for me to meet you, for instance, to meet all these beautiful people, all these cultures, and live this life, but I never really say, like, oh, like, I never, I'm not gonna introduce myself as, "Oh, I'm Nick Kyrgios, tennis player. I've done this, this, and this." Like, I just-

Trevor Noah 17:24 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Nick Kyrgios 17:24 ... never really thought it was that serious where ... And, like, you look at Roger, and Novak, and Nadal, like, I'm not saying they're doing it wrong. Like, they've bought into the process, and they've become, you know, champions and whatever. But I just think I'm just not that personality. Like, I love gaming. I love hanging out with my friends. I love feeling normal. I love going to get a coffee. Like, I love ... And then if I'm playing some pro tennis on the side, that's great. But, like, it's like I'm not willing to sacrifice these other things that make me really, really happy.

Trevor Noah 17:48 You know, it's funny, you, you, you didn't just play tennis in, like, one of the whitest sports. You also grew up in one of the whitest countries.

Nick Kyrgios 17:54 Yes.

Trevor Noah 17:54 Like, I've been to Australia a bunch doing shows.

Nick Kyrgios 17:56 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 17:57 I think Australia's one of the most fun countries I've ever been to.

Nick Kyrgios 17:58 It's amazing, yeah.

Trevor Noah 18:00 But damn, Australia doesn't know how to talk about race-

Nick Kyrgios 18:03 No, no

Trevor Noah 18:03 ... or anything that is not, like, stock standard white Australian.

Nick Kyrgios 18:06 They're, they're pretty racist down here.

Trevor Noah 18:08 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 18:08 They are. You can, you can just say it. Like, it's okay. You, you were just, like, like, working around me-

Trevor Noah 18:12 I'm not gonna be that guy, man

Nick Kyrgios 18:13 ... talking. Yeah, I know, you were just, like, working around it.

Trevor Noah 18:14 I'm not gonna be, I'm not gonna go out there and just-

Nick Kyrgios 18:16 I was like, "They're racist"

Trevor Noah 18:16 ... like, "No, no, no. No, no." Hey, man, it's not my country to say that about.

Nick Kyrgios 18:20 It is very-

Trevor Noah 18:21 You know?

Nick Kyrgios 18:21 I'll tell you. I'll tell you firsthand, I've dealt with it It's fine. It's horri- it's horrific down here

Trevor Noah 18:27 Have you seen a change over the years?

Nick Kyrgios 18:29 I think it's getting worse. Um, I think-

Trevor Noah 18:31 Whoa

Nick Kyrgios 18:31 ... it's getting worse everywhere, to be honest. Um, I don't know. The world, the world frustrates me. The world frustrates me.

Trevor Noah 18:39 In what way?

Nick Kyrgios 18:40 They're just... Everyone's just trying to just split everyone up. Like, humans actually are capable of doing some good things when they work together, but no one wants to work together for some reason. Everyone's just putting-

Trevor Noah 18:52 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 18:52 ... each other down. Everyone's just-

Trevor Noah 18:53 I, I, I agree with a lot of that

Nick Kyrgios 18:55 ... yeah, everyone's just trying to, like, separate everyone. It's either this or that. It's like, why can't people-

Trevor Noah 18:59 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 18:59 ... have different opinions and just respect that? And then, I don't know, it's so weird. I just try not to think about it 'cause it drives me insane.

Trevor Noah 19:04 Do you think, do you think some of that came to you from growing up in a mixed family? Because for me, one of the main things I had to do growing up, so my dad's Swiss, my mom is Xhosa from South Africa.

Nick Kyrgios 19:14 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 19:14 I grew up in South Africa, but I, I had to learn different languages, different accents, different cultures, different... So in my household, there was no, like, right way to do something. There were just different ways to do the thing to get to-

Nick Kyrgios 19:28 Yeah

Trevor Noah 19:28 ... the right outcome. Does that, does that make sense?

Nick Kyrgios 19:30 100%.

Trevor Noah 19:30 So I always grew up in a world where I was like, I was like, "Um, I mean, I think I'm right, but maybe you're right from your point of view," and you know?

Nick Kyrgios 19:36 100%. I think growing up with my household, we, there was s- yeah, I think that's, yeah, yeah. Most Aussies, like, really Aussie families, they don't, they're not like-

Trevor Noah 19:47 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 19:47 ... super family orientated and they're not like, where, where like me, like, I speak to my parents pretty much every day. They send me-

Trevor Noah 19:52 Right

Nick Kyrgios 19:52 ... videos when I'm traveling. Like, I, I have to be around people who are really close to their family and, and, and, like, I just can't, I, I don't know. Like, some of my friends are like, "Oh, I haven't spoken to my mom in, like, three weeks." I'm like, "Bro, I actually need my, I need to be away from you. Like, that's not normal." Anyway.

Trevor Noah 20:08 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 20:09 Like, that's not normal.

Trevor Noah 20:10 Your mom seems like a really interesting woman. Like, first of all, I read, and you never know how much of this is true, I read that she's, like, a princess.

Nick Kyrgios 20:20 Yeah, she was part of the royal family in Malaysia, but I don't know what royalty it was 'cause we were broke. Um, I would-

Trevor Noah 20:26 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 20:26 I would have loved for her to be royal. I would have loved. [laughs] Um, but yeah, she was, uh, part of a royal family in Malaysia and she came to Australia. Um, and yeah, how, the, the story of how my mom met my dad was crazy 'cause my dad came by boat from Greece when he was six. So, like, just a crazy or just a crazy story. Like, I don't know. They both came from crazy backgrounds. But-

Trevor Noah 20:51 Yeah, that is, that's... I don't think I know many Malaysian-Greek mixes-

Nick Kyrgios 20:54 Yeah, it's just odd

Trevor Noah 20:55 ... to be honest with you.

Nick Kyrgios 20:55 Like, my dad just came by boat. My mom basically, I don't know how my mom came. They-

Trevor Noah 21:00 Right

Nick Kyrgios 21:00 ... she probably swam. I don't know what kind of form of transport she had back then.

Trevor Noah 21:03 Yeah, right.

Nick Kyrgios 21:03 Yeah, wild. So I don't know.

Trevor Noah 21:05 Who, who's, um, who's more of their culture? Your, your, your mom or your dad? Like, is your, is your dad more Greek than your mom is Malaysian?

Nick Kyrgios 21:12 Oh, no, they're both super, like, super in their roots. Like, my dad's super Greek. Like, meets every old Greek stereotype you've ever-

Trevor Noah 21:21 Yeah. So what does-

Nick Kyrgios 21:22 Yeah

Trevor Noah 21:22 ... wait, so what does he call... Does he call you Nikos? Does he call you-

Nick Kyrgios 21:24 Yeah, Niko

Trevor Noah 21:24 ... what does, what does he-

Nick Kyrgios 21:25 No, they call me Nick, but-

Trevor Noah 21:26 Niko

Nick Kyrgios 21:26 ... you know, Niko. But, like, he will, like, Greeks never pay f- never, old school Greeks never pay full price for anything. Like, he'll bargain.

Trevor Noah 21:33 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 21:33 We'll be, like, at a jewelry store or anywhere. He's, like, trying to bargain. I'm like, "Dad, we can't do that here." Um, my mom is just like, she's, we got a lot of relatives from Malaysia and my dad's-

Trevor Noah 21:43 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 21:43 ... you know, Greek roots. But that's the cool thing about it. Like, people can be successful from, like, anywhere and any, any, like, from anywhere, literally. And it's, it's, it's cool. My roots are, my, my roots are pretty special.

Trevor Noah 21:56 We're gonna continue this conversation right after this short break. [upbeat music] I, I remember watching you at, um, at, at a, at a tennis tournament once.

Nick Kyrgios 22:12 Mm-hmm.

Trevor Noah 22:12 And I was watching you play, and I was chatting to a friend of mine, and he was like, "Why do you think Nick doesn't like tennis?" And I remember the, there was a, there was a really cool interview that I saw once, uh, it was a Tottenham Hotspur football player, right, in England.

Nick Kyrgios 22:30 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 22:30 And he was, I think he was left back or right back at the time, and his name, his name slips m- my mind, but I will never forget. They were interviewing him about the game and he said, "Oh, I, I don't watch," he said, "I don't watch football." He said, "I don't watch football."

Nick Kyrgios 22:45 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 22:46 "I don't care about football. I don't have a favorite team. This is just what I do for, for a job."

Nick Kyrgios 22:51 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 22:51 And, and the, the people were almost offended. They were like, "How can you say that? You play in the Premier League. This is amazing."

Nick Kyrgios 22:57 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 22:57 And he said, he said, "Hey, w- w- was your dad a fan of the company he worked for?" He's like-

Nick Kyrgios 23:02 Yeah, true

Trevor Noah 23:02 ... "Was your dad a fan of the job? Was your mom a fan of the place where she worked?" He's like, "That's, it's my job. I get some people have it as a passion, but it's my job." And, and when we were watching you play, I said to my friend, "Just watching you and your vibe," I said, "I feel like Nick Kyrgios is a team player stuck in an individual sport."

Nick Kyrgios 23:22 Yeah, I feel, uh-

Trevor Noah 23:22 That's what I feel sometimes when I watch you.

Nick Kyrgios 23:23 Yeah. I mean, I, I lo- I, I grew up playing basketball. I love, I much prefer team sports, team environments big time. I love losing together and winning together and having that camaraderie and being on the road and all that. I, I much-

Trevor Noah 23:34 Right

Nick Kyrgios 23:35 ... prefer it more than, like... And I, people are like, "Yeah, but what about when you win?" I'm like, "Yeah, it feels good," but I just, like, I prefer to just be my m- I don't know. I'm just a big team guy. I don't know what it is, but that's just me. Like, I can't... Tennis players-

Trevor Noah 23:51 You, you can see it-

Nick Kyrgios 23:51 ... are really selfish

Trevor Noah 23:51 ... you can see it when you, when you played in the doubles. I mean, it seemed like-

Nick Kyrgios 23:54 Yeah, yeah, more passionate

Trevor Noah 23:55 ... you had more fun playing doubles-

Nick Kyrgios 23:56 Yeah

Trevor Noah 23:56 ... than you've ever had playing singles.

Nick Kyrgios 23:59 Yeah, yeah, big time. I love playing doubles. Much, a b- bit less pressure, but at the same time, I just feel like it's more rewarding to do s- do it with someone else. Um, yeah, I just love, I love doubles, man. Doubles is a lot of fun.

Trevor Noah 24:11 Did you, did you grow up with, with, uh, with your siblings? How many siblings do you have?

Nick Kyrgios 24:14 Yeah, I got, uh, two older siblings. Um, yeah, we grew up together. Yeah.

Trevor Noah 24:18 Right. I, I sometimes wonder if it's that. You know, I, I, I talk to a lot of athletes, and especially athletes in the, in the individual sports. The ones who grew up as only children Almost didn't mind being in an individual sport because that was the only-

Nick Kyrgios 24:31 Mm

Trevor Noah 24:31 ... place they got to see other kids. And then people who grew up in homes where they had, like, like a bustling family and siblings, they felt lonely when they went out on the road. 'Cause tennis, I've heard, is one of the loneliest sports. I don't, I don't know if you'd agree.

Nick Kyrgios 24:42 Oh, it's ... Yeah, it definitely is. Like, I mean, especially me being from Australia, um, you know, early in my career I was traveling, like, six, seven months of the year.

Trevor Noah 24:51 Yeah, yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 24:51 Hotel to hotel, week in, week out, not seeing family and friends. It's, it was hard. Yeah, definitely. Especially at that young. Like, it's a, it's a hard transition. Um, and no sport's like that. Like, every sport kind of has a routine and you kinda know where you're going. Where tennis is like you might lose, and then you gotta fly to the next place, or you might win, have to hang around.

Trevor Noah 25:07 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 25:08 And you're playing, you don't know what time you're playing. You don't know how long a match could go for. There's a lot of variables. That's why I think Novak is the best athlete in the world, because his ability to adapt is like, like no other. Like, every b- like, every one of the other athletes in the world, like, has know ... Like, they know when they're gonna start, they know when they're gonna finish. They know when-

Trevor Noah 25:27 That's interesting

Nick Kyrgios 25:27 ... how many games they're gonna play. Where, like, Novak, like, he's gotta go to Asia, different time zone, different food, different diet.

Trevor Noah 25:35 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 25:35 And then he go to Europe, and then different food again, different time zone. Doesn't know when he's gonna play. And then America, and then Australia, and it's like how does this guy adapt to every single scenario put in front of him and still come out the best, is, is, is incredible.

Trevor Noah 25:47 Yeah. I, I actually, I actually never thought about the fact that in tennis you don't know how long a match is.

Nick Kyrgios 25:53 Yeah, it could be one, it could be an hour and a half. It could, it could be five hours. So it's like I've played matches that have gone under an hour, and then I've played for an, for, for two hours. I mean, and then I've played for five hours, nearly. And then it's like, and then I might have to travel across the world to play the same thing again with a different diet, different ... It's crazy.

Trevor Noah 26:09 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 26:09 Tennis is, is nuts. So, like, that's why I think Novak for me-

Trevor Noah 26:13 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 26:13 ... people don't really know that about tennis, though. Like, they don't ... And the schedule. Like, you don't know when you're gonna start playing. Like, you're, you're just-

Trevor Noah 26:18 What do, what do you mean?

Nick Kyrgios 26:19 ... followed by. So, like, a match starts at 11:00, and then you're just followed by. So it's like there's no direct time when you're gonna start.

Trevor Noah 26:25 Oh, so you don't actually know when you're gonna start playing.

Nick Kyrgios 26:27 No. Half the time, like, more than half the time you don't even know when you're gonna start. So, like, you can't, you don't know when to eat. You don't know when to, like, you're gonna, when you're gonna finish. It's hard to plan. It's insane.

Trevor Noah 26:36 Yeah. This doesn't seem ideal, and it seems even less ideal if it's not your ultimate passion in life.

Nick Kyrgios 26:42 E- exactly. It's stressful. Yeah.

Trevor Noah 26:44 You know what I mean?

Nick Kyrgios 26:44 When you do stuff that you ... You know? Yeah. I mean, it's, it's definitely caused a lot of stress in my life, but again, I can understand that it's opened up a lot of doors for me as well.

Trevor Noah 26:52 Yeah, no. Look, I think everything in life has a, has a blessing and a curse attached to it, you know? Um, I remember there was a time in stand-up comedy when, as comedians, we, we would talk a lot about this backstage. Comedy, I would say before social media and, and in many moments, comedy was a really lonely, and it can be a very lonely, um, you know, profession in that we're on the road. Uh, when you start off, you're by yourself. You know, you just, you've got a bag. You fly to some random place somewhere in the world. You do comedy there for a week, and then you fly somewhere else. It's, it's similar to tennis just, you know, the, the not, the crowds aren't the same. And there was a period where a lot of comedians were committing suicide, and we'd always, we'd always hear these stories.

Nick Kyrgios 27:31 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 27:31 You'd be like, "Yo, did you hear about Mike? What happened?" It'd be like, "Yeah, Mike, Mike committed suicide in a hotel in some random place in the world." And it was always, like, the same sad story. On the road by themselves, and then, you know, that was it. That was the last time we'd hear of, of, of that comedian.

Nick Kyrgios 27:49 Mm.

Trevor Noah 27:49 And we would talk about this, and we'd say it's such a solitary experience. It's such a solitary existence, and at some point you go, "What am I even doing this for?" You know? And, and, and when ... I've, I've seen you've been very public about, like, the mental aspect of the game and, uh, which I've appreciated, by the way. You know, yourself, Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka, it's like the first generation of superstar athletes who aren't afraid to say, "Hey, I put myself before the sport."

Nick Kyrgios 28:17 Yeah. I mean, it's, it's important because I was close to ... You know, I was in a very dark time, and I was close to ... You know, I was feeling the exact same way. I was like, "What am I doing this for?" Like, I hate ... Like, 'cause I was two completely different people. I was like Nick Kyrgios, and then I had to turn into someone else, and that was the only thing that people cared about, was that, was that Nick that I had to turn into.

Trevor Noah 28:37 Mm.

Nick Kyrgios 28:38 You know? And, and that entertainer. And then when I was normal, no one gave a shit. So I was like, "This is tough." Like, I was like, "I g- I'm, I'm tired and I'm doing it week in, week out," and I was alone on the road. And I was like, I, you know, drinking, drugs, partying-

Trevor Noah 28:49 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 28:49 ... and then being out-

Trevor Noah 28:50 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 28:50 ... till, like, 5:00 AM, then playing the next day, and it was just like it was a big, dark depression that I was in, and no one ... Like, just because I was winning tennis matches, it seemed to just be okay. Everyone was like, "Okay, he's fine then."

Trevor Noah 29:02 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 29:02 But I was like that's the, that's, that's, that's what's dangerous, is that people just will get up and continually go because they have to go, but they're really not okay. And then Naomi was the first kind of person that I was seeing taking time away from the sport. Like, she stepped away-

Trevor Noah 29:16 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 29:16 ... from the French Open. Everyone was like, "Oh, how could you?" Like, "It's a privilege to be there." I'm like, bro, she earned her right to be in the French Open. If she doesn't wanna play for mental health, that's h- up to her. And then I was, I saw that and that opened my eyes. I was like, "Holy shit, someone's actually doing it."

Trevor Noah 29:30 Wow.

Nick Kyrgios 29:30 And then ... 'Cause I was going through that for ages before she ca- for, before she did it. And then I told her, I was like, "You helped me because I don't ... Maybe if I kept going, like, I wouldn't be here right now," 'cause that's how bad it was. And then I've just now sh- completely shortened my schedule. I only play when I wanna play. I only do what I wanna do. And I was like ... And then I end up doing things with more purpose anyway. Like this interview, like, there was a time where I used to do this type, this type of stuff and hate what I was doing and ha- I, I never even enjoyed doing things like this, but now I'm doing everything with a purpose, and it end, ends up actually being-

Trevor Noah 30:00 Actually saying

Nick Kyrgios 30:00 ... more rewarding. So it's like athletes doing that, and it's ... When I reached out, when I put it on social media, the best thing about it is people still reach out to me today when they're just like, "Oh, can I, you know, have some advice?" And I get people's numbers, and I talk to them on the phone, and I WhatsApp.

Trevor Noah 30:15 Oh, wow.

Nick Kyrgios 30:15 I don't even know these people, but-

Trevor Noah 30:16 Wow

Nick Kyrgios 30:17 ... I just help them, and it's like that's the coolest thing about it. Like, just opening up. I mean, I'm helping so many people.

Trevor Noah 30:22 Did you, did you have anyone that you leaned on, either inside or outside of the sport when you were going through it? Because y- you're this young kid who blows up. The world is on your shoulders.

Nick Kyrgios 30:31 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 30:31 You are considered a professional w- I mean, before, you know, you're even an adult, really. Like, did you have-

Nick Kyrgios 30:37 Mm

Trevor Noah 30:37 ... anyone you leaned on? Was, was there anyone who really helped you through these tough times?

Nick Kyrgios 30:41 It was such a shock to the system, I think, for my family and my friends 'cause- No one had ever done something like I'd done.

Trevor Noah 30:49 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 30:49 Like, it was just, it was just not heard of that anyone around where I'm from, like, blew up globally and did something. And it was just hard. And I di- I didn't have anyone.

Trevor Noah 31:00 Mm.

Nick Kyrgios 31:00 They had no idea what I was going through. They had, you know, they was just like, "Oh, you're making good money, so that's it." It's just like, there was so much more stuff that came with it than that-

Trevor Noah 31:08 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 31:08 ... that really affected me. 'Cause I was such a normal person. Like, I wasn't, like, I d- hate the fame. I hate all that sh- like, I hate it. I think it's a joke. Um, and I hated it. And then I had no one to kind of lean on, and then I, I, I had some people, like even Andy Murray in the locker room was like, "Bro, are you okay?" Like, I had some other people, like, kind of seeing, like, what I was going through. And then I-

Trevor Noah 31:27 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 31:27 ... got, I seeked help and I just got myself out of it, to be honest. But I didn't really have ... And that was hard. That was really hard. I, I didn't feel ... Every time I've tried to confide in someone that I knew, they had no idea what I was going through. So it was really hard.

Trevor Noah 31:39 When you were working with, um, Naomi Osaka-

Nick Kyrgios 31:42 Yep

Trevor Noah 31:42 ... uh, you know what? I saw a few clips of you guys going viral, y- you know, you and her talking a- about some aspects of the game.

Nick Kyrgios 31:49 Yep.

Trevor Noah 31:50 She's somebody who I feel like has a natural connection with you for multiple reasons.

Nick Kyrgios 31:54 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 31:54 You know, you're, you're both, you're both these professionals who came from worlds where you were mixed, where you almost always didn't fit in, but then found a place that you did fit in, but it wasn't necessarily your number one passion, but you're both amazingly good at it. When, when the two of you are together, like, what do you, what do you find Naomi brings out in you that you, you know, that maybe you haven't found when you, when you connected with other players early on in your career?

Nick Kyrgios 32:20 Yeah, just that she's really struggled to fit in, I think, the sport. Like I f- I find comfort when I, when I ... She was on, she was on my show as well.

Trevor Noah 32:28 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 32:28 And we had a really good chat, and she's like, she had a lot of questions for me in that sense. She's like, "How do you deal with it? 'Cause, you know, you've had a lot of backlash." And I think we both just find that common ground in like we're be- we're so different in when we came into the sport, we were like the black sheep and, like, and we're just really trying to find our way, and we had a sea of fans.

Trevor Noah 32:45 Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 32:45 But then we had a pe- sea of people that didn't like the way we went about things. And it was like she was, like, really, like, we both don't give enough credit to ourselves, I think. Like, she's won four Grand Slams. She's beaten everyone, and I'm like, "You do realize you've, you've achieved a lot." She's like, "Uh, like, I've achieved a little bit." And I'm like, we both-

Trevor Noah 33:03 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 33:03 ... really struggle to give ourselves credit. And-

Trevor Noah 33:06 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 33:06 ... I think we just, we, we kind of find comfort in each other because it's like we, we're almost ... Yeah, we're like, I feel like if I had a comparison in the, on the women's tour, it would be her. You know, I haven't achieved anything-

Trevor Noah 33:17 Right

Nick Kyrgios 33:17 ... of what she's achieved. You know, she's achieved three times as much, but it's like, I just, I can see the way she, she really looks, she looks uneasy at the courts. Like, I see her walking around. I'm like, she's just not in her environment. She's always walking with headphones on, trying to disassociate, and I'm just like, "That's me." But, like, she's just really, really internal. Her coping mechanism is to go in her shell, where mine is actually to just be, be like, be crazy, where it's like that's, that's the only difference.

Trevor Noah 33:42 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 33:42 But yeah, she's ... I've learned a lot from her as well, which is good.

Trevor Noah 33:47 Sometimes I, I think to myself, you know, when I, when I watch athletes break into a, a sport, one of the things that, that, that plays through my head is the understanding of the sports culture versus that athlete's culture, you know?

Nick Kyrgios 34:03 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 34:04 In, in England, for instance, a lot of people don't know that, like, footballers are considered, like, from the working class and lower class. It's not like a prestigious sport in, in, in the country.

Nick Kyrgios 34:12 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 34:12 You know? Uh, rugby is up there. Cricket's up there. That's considered okay. You are ... That's the sport that the, the prince would play, for instance. And, and, and you, you see it change around the world. Tennis, from the time I was in school in South Africa, tennis was the sport that, like, the richer kids could play. Like, I remember seeing the price of a Wilson racket. Like, uh, when I played tennis, I had one of those, the wooden ... You know what I mean? The, the [laughs] our school gave us those wooden ones-

Nick Kyrgios 34:37 Yeah, yeah. The long ones. Yeah

Trevor Noah 34:37 ... with the long handle.

Nick Kyrgios 34:38 Yeah, yeah.

Trevor Noah 34:38 That's all I could play with. And then, like, these kids would come to school, and they'd have, like, their Wilsons, and they would have, like, all the kits and every- You, you ... There was no dream of affording that, so we couldn't continue playing tennis.

Nick Kyrgios 34:48 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 34:48 But because of who's in the sport, there's also a cultural aspect that the sport dictates, and if you don't follow that culture, you're seen as being, you know, a, a, a bad boy, a, a rowdy person, a ... Like, half of the things people criticize you for, I sometimes go, you realize if Nick was playing another sport, this would just be an athlete. That's what people would say.

Nick Kyrgios 35:09 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 35:09 You, you know what I mean?

Nick Kyrgios 35:10 Yeah. I mean, I've had, I've had conversations, like if I played NFL or NBA, like I'd be the, I'd probably be the, like, the cleanest and nicest guy in the locker room.

Trevor Noah 35:17 Yeah, they'd be like, "Quiet Nick." That's what they'd say.

Nick Kyrgios 35:18 Yeah, yeah, exact- uh, because that's how I am. I'm, I'm actually very internal, and, and I'm an introvert when I'm off the court. Like, I don't like-

Trevor Noah 35:24 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 35:24 ... like, doing too much, um, and saying too much. So it's like, yeah, that ... I mean, what, you nailed it on the head. Like, the things I'm doing, like throwing a racket or, like, like a snippet of throwing a racket, so but the, the thing about it is, like, I play for four hours, and they choose to show a clip that goes for-

Trevor Noah 35:39 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 35:39 ... like five seconds and then broadcast it over the biggest media platforms in the world. And then obviously that's how you're gonna brainwash the majority of people.

Trevor Noah 35:45 Right.

Nick Kyrgios 35:45 They haven't watched the four-hour match, but they've watched the five little second clip. "Oh, how could you do this?" Every day. It's like, what the f- are you talking about? Like, and that becomes a narrative, and that just grows legs, and then it's like, "Oh, he does it all." It's like, bro, you guys don't know who I am at all. And it's like, yeah, tennis is a white privileged sport. That's how it was when I ... I was, like, the first, I guess there was a co- couple in the sport before me, but there wasn't many. And now there's so many. There's Tiafoe, Osaka-

Trevor Noah 36:09 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 36:09 ... Dim- Shelton, Kyrgios. Like, it's amazing, and it's like, I feel, I don't feel as alone and as alienated anymore as I did when I came up because I was like, I walked in the locker room. I was like, "Bro, there is no one here that I f-

Trevor Noah 36:20 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 36:20 ... at all." I was like, "What is this place?" It was, it was cold. Every- no one talked with each other. It was no, there was no, like, friendships. I was like, "This is brutal." And then now it's like I walk in there, and you see people on the court, like, they're, they've got passion. They've got personality. They're culture. They're bringing different sides to the sport, and now we embrace it. And I'm like, dude, when I came through, I was like, you guys painted me as if I was, like, a murderer. Like, that's how bad it was. Like, there were some articles that I was like All I'm doing is just being me and bringing my personality to the sport, and I'm being-

Trevor Noah 36:52 Right

Nick Kyrgios 36:52 ... absolutely. And that's ... It's kind of given me a sour taste of tennis, to be honest. Like, I, I don't think about tennis in a, in a good way. I, I think it's a, a very shallow and they haven't embraced personalities. And it, and it's dangerous because some people like me, like, it was hurtful and I did struggle with it, so.

Trevor Noah 37:09 Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 37:10 And I know in other sports like NBA or, you know, rugby or soccer, like, there's so many different personalities-

Trevor Noah 37:16 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 37:16 ... and everyone's kind of ... It's like that's how it should be. Like, it's just like we're so past like just ... Ah, yeah, tennis is ... Yeah, I, I hate it, like, [laughs] honestly.

Trevor Noah 37:25 [laughs] You, you, you know, I, I understand why you hate it, but in a selfish way, as a fan of the sport, I am grateful for you. I, I hate that you went through those experiences, but in a selfish way I'm grateful for you because I don't think tennis realized how much it needs Nick Kyrgios. I don't think tennis realized how much it needs to be unpredictable, how much it needs to be personality, how much it needs to be ... Like, you, you know, when you, when you look at the, you know, the, the, the tennis stadiums themselves, you go from country to country. I've, I've only watched-

Nick Kyrgios 37:59 Yeah

Trevor Noah 37:59 ... I've only watched a Grand Slam in New York, and I've watched one in, um, Paris, or Roland-Garros.

Nick Kyrgios 38:06 Mm.

Trevor Noah 38:06 And, uh, I'm trying to think if I've done one more, maybe, I'm not sure. But all of the stadiums have different personalities, and the commentators in the tennis world celebrate that. They go, "Oh, Roland-Garros is, is ... This is the attitude."

Nick Kyrgios 38:17 Yeah, yeah.

Trevor Noah 38:17 And, "Oh, Wimbledon is very posh," and, "New York is very-"

Nick Kyrgios 38:19 Yeah

Trevor Noah 38:19 ... like lively and fun.

Nick Kyrgios 38:20 And then as soon as you get a different-

Trevor Noah 38:21 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 38:21 ... one on court, it's like, "Oh, why are you acting like that?" It's like, well-

Trevor Noah 38:24 Exactly

Nick Kyrgios 38:25 ... how are you gonna give-

Trevor Noah 38:25 And I never understood why they didn't celebrate that as a, as a concept. I look at how John McEnroe brought people into the sport because of how crazy he was.

Nick Kyrgios 38:33 Yep. Yeah, he was nuts. And then, yeah, he got ... I mean, I feel like ... I mean, then, then he retired, and now he's an absolute legend. It's like, oh-

Trevor Noah 38:40 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 38:40 ... we should have embraced him while he was here type thing. But I feel like that's for me. I feel like now I'm getting more embraced when I'm getting to, like, the later stages of my career, and it's like-

Trevor Noah 38:49 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 38:49 ... would it helped if I got embraced earlier on? 'Cause I probably wouldn't have obviously had those dark periods in time.

Trevor Noah 38:56 Right, right.

Nick Kyrgios 38:56 And I probably would've been in better physical condition. I probably would've adored the sport more and tried a little bit harder to get the best out of myself. But now, I mean, like, I look back at it and it just caused so much dark and negative and stress, and on me and my family, like, just-

Trevor Noah 39:09 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 39:10 ... yeah, it just wasn't a nice ... I don't look back at it as a nice period of my life. And I think people always ask me like, "Oh, how long do you wanna play for?" I was like, "Oh, I'll probably play for another, like, another year or two." And they're like, "Oh, why not?" I'm just like, "Because I don't look back at it and smile." I look back at it and I'm like, it, it, it makes me almost sad and, and upset-

Trevor Noah 39:28 Mm

Nick Kyrgios 39:28 ... at my career.

Trevor Noah 39:29 Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 39:29 And that's just something that it is what it is. Like, I can't change it. But it's, it's not what you wanna hear from an athlete that's dedicated his whole life towards.

Trevor Noah 39:36 Yeah. Do you, uh, do you ever think of ... You ... I know this is gonna sound crazy. You should, you should do, like, a party year before you leave.

Nick Kyrgios 39:44 A what?

Trevor Noah 39:45 Just have, like, a party year, like a party.

Nick Kyrgios 39:46 Oh, I've done that.

Trevor Noah 39:47 Like, bring all your friends. Just like make it-

Nick Kyrgios 39:49 Yeah, I've, I've-

Trevor Noah 39:49 ... make it as much of a party as you can before. Like, don't leave.

Nick Kyrgios 39:51 But all my friends can't travel, like, all the time. They got [laughs] -

Trevor Noah 39:54 Man, tell-

Nick Kyrgios 39:55 ... they got, they got shit to do

Trevor Noah 39:55 ... you know what? Let me tell you something. Once you announce it as, like, the retirement year, people, people-

Nick Kyrgios 39:59 Then they'll be a part of it, you reckon?

Trevor Noah 40:01 Yeah, they gotta, they gotta make, make it a thing. Find a sponsor. Get your, the sponsor to pay for, like, their salary for, like, a year.

Nick Kyrgios 40:07 Yeah, it'd be amazing.

Trevor Noah 40:07 Make it like a reality show.

Nick Kyrgios 40:08 That'd be sick.

Trevor Noah 40:09 Go out there. Like, go out with a bang. Like, I, I feel like why let the sport leave you? You know what I mean? You leave the sport the way you wanna leave it. Do you know what I mean?

Nick Kyrgios 40:16 Yeah. Yeah, that's a good ... That's actually a pretty mental idea.

Trevor Noah 40:19 Can I, can I tell you the most fun I ever had? Like, some of the, yeah, some of the most, some of the most depressing, quiet moments in my life have been, and not good quiet, have been on the road doing comedy. Like, like a slog, exactly what you're saying.

Nick Kyrgios 40:31 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 40:31 I'll be in some random rainy town in England. This was years ago in my career. It's just me in, like, a hotel room that's underground. 'Cause you know some hotels, they, they have that somehow. I don't know. The first floor's like-

Nick Kyrgios 40:43 Yeah

Trevor Noah 40:43 ... under the-

Nick Kyrgios 40:43 Yeah

Trevor Noah 40:44 ... you know, the surface-

Nick Kyrgios 40:44 Yeah

Trevor Noah 40:44 ... of the street. [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 40:45 Don't know how that works.

Trevor Noah 40:46 You know what I mean? And, and, dude, and I would be so just, like, depressed and tired and, and all of it. And the one thing I do now for myself is I go I will make my environment the biggest community possible.

Nick Kyrgios 40:58 Yeah, see.

Trevor Noah 40:59 So if you see me on tour in India, if you see me anywhere, I'm like, "Yo, man, I roll with my people." I go the tour is almost secondary to me living my life with my people. And it ch- it's changed everything. It's cha-

Nick Kyrgios 41:08 Yeah, I think-

Trevor Noah 41:08 Even the worst tour becomes the best tour

Nick Kyrgios 41:10 ... I think that's what I did last year. Like, that was the best year of my life, and I kind of looked at it in a different light. I was like, "Okay, I'm gonna look at it as, like, I'm going on a ho- holiday with my partner and my team."

Trevor Noah 41:18 Yeah, yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 41:18 "And then I'm playing a bit of tennis." And then I had the best year of my life. So maybe you're right. Maybe you're onto something there.

Trevor Noah 41:24 Yeah, man. I don't know. I ... 'Cause I, 'cause I ... Here's the thing, and you'll tell me if I'm wrong. It feels like you think of retiring as a, as a moving, um ... You know, as a, as ... It, it doesn't feel like a constant measure. You know, when, when, when, when, when other athletes speak of retiring, so when Roger would speak about retiring, I remember him, he would always talk about his body and it was the end. I could, I could, I could see Roger talking about that. They would have a timeline. And I think COVID robbed, robbed him of a few years that we could have celebrated with him.

Nick Kyrgios 41:54 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 41:54 But, like, when I look at you, I can see there's a lot of it that's like it's not Nick's body, it feels like it's Nick's mind and Nick's heart that wants to take a break and, and get out of it, you know?

Nick Kyrgios 42:04 Yeah. That's exactly how I feel. Like, my body now is obviously ... You know, I've had a couple surgeries by 28, and, and, like, I never really wanted to get to a point in my career where I d- I did that.

Trevor Noah 42:13 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 42:13 'Cause I wanna have a family one day and be active and, and, and play with them and run around.

Trevor Noah 42:18 Right.

Nick Kyrgios 42:18 But yeah, it's more so I'm just a bit, like, yeah, I guess just ... I don't know. There's a bit, a bit of tennis that, that stings every time I think about it, and that's not ... It's like I don't ... Yeah. I mean, look, I'll come back and when I'm, when I'm healthy and I'll, I'll play and I'll entertain for another year or two, but after that I think that's it.

Trevor Noah 42:34 Y- y- let's go back to, um, you know, when you were saying y- you, you were painted of this, as this bad boy. I would love to know how do you feel about the title bad boy? Do you like it? Because from the outside-

Nick Kyrgios 42:44 No

Trevor Noah 42:44 ... sometimes people ... No, you don't.

Nick Kyrgios 42:47 No, I don't like it because it's like a reputation that I've had to kind of, like- Fight against my entire life

Trevor Noah 42:53 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 42:53 ... just like every time I meet a n- like a person or go out in public or, you know, for instance my partner, when I, when I met her she thought I was arrogant, she thought I was maniacal, she thought I was, like, volatile. She thought I was, like, yeah, just like a bad person. And I was like, "I've just been fighting against this reputation my entire life, and I'm actually the exact opposite." Like, I don't take myself seriously at all. I'm literally the calmest person you've ever met.

Trevor Noah 43:19 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 43:19 I'm very low maintenance. Like, I'm selfless. I'm not selfish at all, like every tennis player is. Like, I'm like... And it's, it's been hard. Like, people don't even hear me out, and it's just like, it's... I hate it because it's like [laughs] it's- it's- it's- it's- it's been tough, definitely. But of- unfortunately that's really the only Nick that they care about, so it's like, it's hard.

Trevor Noah 43:40 Y- I- I don't know if you still do this, but I, I remember hearing once that you coached yourself. Is it, was that true?

Nick Kyrgios 43:47 Yeah. I haven't had a coach for, like, six, seven years now.

Trevor Noah 43:51 Well, was- was- was part of that because you didn't want to be coached out of being yourself? Or was it just because you don't work well with a coach?

Nick Kyrgios 43:59 I guess I just think that my way's the best. And no one knows me as well as I do. Like, I'll, I'll hold myself accountable when I do something stupid.

Trevor Noah 44:07 Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 44:08 No one knows my game the way I know my game. I know what I need to improve on. Um, I know what my strengths are. But also, it's just a waste of money, in my opinion. And like-

Trevor Noah 44:16 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 44:17 ... these, these coaches are, like, charging like 150 to 200 grand a year. I'm like, "For what?" Like, you stand there and like... Like, I do my own study. Like, I, I can just go to YouTube right now and, and, and look at every single per- every single player's strengths and weakness, study their game, watch hours of film and, and do all that side of things tactically. Um, I know what my t- my technique's absolutely fine. I can, like, I'm not gonna pay someone 200 grand-

Trevor Noah 44:40 This is insane

Nick Kyrgios 44:40 ... to just travel the world and just stand on court with me and just like, "Oh, you do this." Okay, that's 200 grand worth of fucking advice. Like-

Trevor Noah 44:47 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Nick Kyrgios 44:47 ... amazing. Hell no. Like, what the f- that's ridiculous

Trevor Noah 44:50 Yeah, you see, this, but this is even crazier to me. The fact that you win anything is even, is even wilder to me now. 'Cause I'm just like you- you- you're an anomaly. You're a, you're a... People talk about a natural talent, but you are truly an anomaly. You, you can't play at the highest level of any sport without a court- a coach-

Nick Kyrgios 45:07 Yeah, you can, though

Trevor Noah 45:07 ... and do what you do.

Nick Kyrgios 45:08 You, you can. You can. You can. You can. You can

Trevor Noah 45:10 You think so?

Nick Kyrgios 45:10 It's, it's, it's real- it's simple. Like, the biggest lie we've all been told, it's not that simple. It really is. It's, it's very simple.

Trevor Noah 45:16 Feel like this is-

Nick Kyrgios 45:17 Yeah

Trevor Noah 45:17 ... Superman lifting a bus, being like, "It's not that hard. It's really not that hard."

Nick Kyrgios 45:19 No, it's, it's-

Trevor Noah 45:20 "You just gotta lift with, you just gotta lift with your knees. You just gotta lift with your legs"

Nick Kyrgios 45:23 Yeah. [laughs] Maybe. I don't know.

Trevor Noah 45:25 [laughs]

Trevor Noah 45:27 When, when, when, when Nick Kyrgios looks at his life apart from the game, I know, um... Are, are you still dealing with an injury now?

Nick Kyrgios 45:35 Yes. Yep.

Trevor Noah 45:35 Yeah. Do, uh... When you, when you get these injuries, do you actually know when you're coming back, or is it all just speculation?

Nick Kyrgios 45:42 Um, it just depends what kind of injury it is obvi- obviously. Like, if it's a rolled ankle, you know, it's... But I've, you know, I've had some surgeries and I'm just trying to get back. There was a, you know, there w- I had a bit of a wrist thing, and it was kind of bothering my everyday life. Like, I couldn't go to the bathroom. I couldn't put salt on my steak. Like, it was getting to a point where I was like, okay, it was affecting my everyday life, and it wasn't even-

Trevor Noah 46:01 Oh, damn

Nick Kyrgios 46:01 ... about tennis. People were like, "Oh, how are you on the court?" I was like, "Dude, it didn't even, it wasn't even on the court." Like, I was, like, struggling to be without pain in my daily life just to get it done.

Trevor Noah 46:09 Damn.

Nick Kyrgios 46:10 And now I don't really have, like, a timeline. You know, I'm just gonna come back. I, I feel like I've got so much stuff that I can focus on in the meantime-

Trevor Noah 46:17 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 46:17 ... that it's just like I'm gonna do this right, take my time, come back whenever I want. I've got a protected ranking of 21, so I can come back and play whatever I want to play.

Trevor Noah 46:24 Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 46:25 And that's it. Like, I'm gonna enjoy my life in the meantime. Like, and enjoy it, do my rehab and, and that's it. Like, I wouldn't be having this conversation with you probably if I was healthy at the moment. I'd be probably training and being a b-

Trevor Noah 46:35 Because you'd be back out there doing your thing.

Nick Kyrgios 46:36 Yeah, but I'd be in a bad mood. I would be training, and I'd be miserable. And then I'd be like, "No, I'm not doing this call." Like, and now, do you know what I mean? So it's like-

Trevor Noah 46:43 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Nick Kyrgios 46:43 ... there's positives to everything.

Trevor Noah 46:45 Yeah. I, I, I, I really wonder how long it's gonna take for us to get to the place where we acknowledge that athletes are human beings, and we don't own them in their entirety outside of the sport. 'Cause we're watching you perform the sport. You know? Like, that, that is the action, and there's this pervasive idea that athletes are owned off the court or, or off the field.

Nick Kyrgios 47:04 Yeah. Like, "You should be doing this."

Trevor Noah 47:05 Like people-

Nick Kyrgios 47:05 "This, this."

Trevor Noah 47:05 Yeah. You, we want you, we want you doing, we want you, we want you, we want you, we want you, we want you. And then as soon as you express emotion about being wanted, people are angry at you. They're like, "Oh, what do you mean he's tired? What do you mean he's not having a good day?"

Nick Kyrgios 47:15 Yeah. It's wild. Yeah. It's, it's, it's crazy, man. Like, [laughs] it's, yeah, you, you said it.

Trevor Noah 47:21 Let's talk about a bit of, uh, like, just something like your personal life, like as, as Nick. You've, you've been really open and, and really vulnerable, which for me flies in the face of this idea of you being an asshole. You know? You-

Nick Kyrgios 47:36 Yep.

Trevor Noah 47:36 To me, it seems like you are somebody who occasionally loses their temper or shows their emotion while playing a sport, which by the way, again, is normal-

Nick Kyrgios 47:44 It's normal

Trevor Noah 47:45 ... in most sports. But when you, when you force people to-

Nick Kyrgios 47:47 It's normal in life

Trevor Noah 47:48 ... wear, like, white, white shorts. Yeah. It is, actually.

Nick Kyrgios 47:50 We're not, we're, we're human, so aren't we supposed to feel? Do you know what I mean?

Trevor Noah 47:54 Yeah. I, I hope that will change in tennis, man. I really hope it will, because I think if the sport-

Nick Kyrgios 48:00 It, it, it, it won't

Trevor Noah 48:01 ... I think if the sport's not careful, it will start to become a vestige of itself. It'll just become like this, you know?

Nick Kyrgios 48:06 As soon as, as soon as-

Trevor Noah 48:07 Remember when, like, the Williams sisters-

Nick Kyrgios 48:08 Yeah, but as soon as-

Trevor Noah 48:09 ... started

Nick Kyrgios 48:09 ... Nadal and Djokovic goes anyway, the sport's gonna struggle. They'll lose so many fans.

Trevor Noah 48:14 Hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 48:14 I think, look, obviously with Sinner and Alcaraz coming up, but the way they've marketed the sport, there's not gonna be as much interest anymore.

Trevor Noah 48:21 Yeah, you see, and that's what I mean. They can't afford to lose people like you. That's exactly what I'm saying.

Nick Kyrgios 48:25 Yeah. Well, too bad.

Trevor Noah 48:27 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 48:27 I've got plans.

Trevor Noah 48:29 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 48:30 I'm not doing this for much longer.

Trevor Noah 48:30 What, what are your plans? What, if you could wave a magic wand, what does Nick Kyrgios do?

Nick Kyrgios 48:33 I actually don't have plans. That's, that's a lie. I don't, I don't-

Trevor Noah 48:36 No?

Nick Kyrgios 48:36 I'm not a planner. I, I just, I just go day by day. I look back at... No, I just go ba- I don't even know what I'm doing tomorrow. I don't even know what I'm doing this afternoon, honestly. I don't have no, I'm not a planner at all.

Trevor Noah 48:45 But what would you want to do? If you could do anything-

Nick Kyrgios 48:48 I, I honestly don't even want to think about it

Trevor Noah 48:49 ... if you-

Nick Kyrgios 48:50 Like, I find happiness-

Trevor Noah 48:51 Interesting

Nick Kyrgios 48:51 ... in the easiest of things. Like, I just s- was so excited to just get up and be at home, like, get a coffee, spend time with my mum Like, those things are just, like, the best things. I just wanna do that for, for as long as I can

Trevor Noah 49:04 I think, I think, you know, with all the downsides as w- as we talk about, of, of the sport of tennis, I wonder if you have felt, 'cause I, I could just be projecting this incorrectly, but obviously there are downsides to social media. Did you start to find a level of connection with people because of social media? Like, did you start to realize that Nick Kyrgios was touching hearts and minds all over the world in a way that you weren't aware of when you started playing?

Nick Kyrgios 49:29 Definitely. And I think that's, [coughs] that's what I'm doing now. Like, I've actually... Funny you said it. Like, I'm starting my show called Good Trouble. I sit down one-on-one with some really interesting people, like I've done Mike Tyson, Gordon Ramsay, Gary Vee, Jay Shetty. And, you know, they're all getting edited now, but I, I f- was filming that when I was in LA. And it's like we sit down intimately, and I didn't realize that I would be able to interview these people, first of all.

Trevor Noah 49:53 Right. Right

Nick Kyrgios 49:54 And social media was the biggest link of that. And then obviously tennis, if I wasn't good at tennis, I wouldn't have even had the, you know, the, the, the platform to do it. But, like, I've sat down with these people, these amazing entrepreneurs, athletes, chefs-

Trevor Noah 50:08 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 50:08 ... like, and I'm like-

Trevor Noah 50:09 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 50:09 ... they all seem to have, like, the same sort of... They're like, they do things with purpose. They've come from a super r- like super hard background. They've like, they're never satisfied, like, ever.

Trevor Noah 50:19 Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 50:19 They're always like, "I, I achieved something, I gotta do, I do more." And I'm like, when I speak to these people, I'm like, I sit there and I'm like... I did Rainn Wilson, by the way, and he, we chatted about, like, the comedy scene and people, you know, there was a lot of suicides. So when you were saying that-

Trevor Noah 50:32 Yeah. Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 50:32 ... I was like, it was, it was, it was pretty fresh in my mind. But, like, I was just like, "How the hell is Nick Kyrgios sitting down here interviewing these people?" And I'm like, my life with the social media and stuff, like I'm, I'm a, like I, I, I hated it. But then I'm like, dude, there's so many cool things that come from it. Like even this-

Trevor Noah 50:50 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 50:50 ... for instance, like it's, it's, it's, it's pretty powerful stuff, but I think you gotta use it in the right way, definitely, 'cause there's a lot of junk on it as well.

Trevor Noah 50:57 It's interesting you've said it twice, and it says something to who you are, but, like, the fact that you say, "How is Nick Kyrgios in this situation? How is Nick Kyrgios speaking to that?" Do you ever acknowledge the fact that, like, people are thinking that about you?

Nick Kyrgios 51:10 No.

Trevor Noah 51:10 You know? Yeah, it's funny that you don't ever think that about yourself-

Nick Kyrgios 51:13 No

Trevor Noah 51:13 ... at all, at all, at all.

Nick Kyrgios 51:14 No. No. I just think it's weird that people wanna talk to me. It's very weird. [laughs] It's fucking weird.

Trevor Noah 51:23 [laughs] Don't go anywhere, 'cause we got more What Now? after this. [upbeat music] Um, when you're playing, this is something I've always wanted to know, just as, as a selfish r- you know, for, for me, completely selfishly. How much does it affect you when, like, the fans or the people in the crowd are, like, talking or not talking?

Nick Kyrgios 51:48 So annoying.

Trevor Noah 51:48 Like, do you... Really?

Nick Kyrgios 51:50 So as, it- look, it's the timing of it. Like-

Trevor Noah 51:53 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 51:53 ... if you wanna come to a tennis game and cheer and be loud, like New York is so loud, in Arthur Ashe Arena it's so loud. But like-

Trevor Noah 52:00 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 52:00 ... for instance at Wimbledon or, like, at Oz Open or, and then when it, or, or, or, or moments where you have to be quiet, like, it's, like, between first or second serves or, like, in the middle of the point. Like, you can't... People, I think they just don't realize that, like, a little, especially in tennis, like, one point can change the whole momentum of the match. Like, the-

Trevor Noah 52:19 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 52:19 ... scoring system isn't like, like a basketball game or a soccer game.

Trevor Noah 52:23 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 52:23 Like soccer's not a b- not a good example, but a soccer, um, like a soccer game, like you have to... I think people just, you know, they might be drinking too much or whatever, but they kinda don't understand it.

Trevor Noah 52:33 Right.

Nick Kyrgios 52:33 There's a little bit of etiquette in tennis where it's like you have to just be quiet at certain moments, not all the time, but certain moments, and I think people just struggle-

Trevor Noah 52:40 Yeah, yeah, yeah

Nick Kyrgios 52:41 ... with that sometimes, you know?

Trevor Noah 52:42 'Cause it can swing the entire game.

Nick Kyrgios 52:43 It can, it can.

Trevor Noah 52:44 Whenever you're doing, um, those trick shots-

Nick Kyrgios 52:47 Yeah

Trevor Noah 52:47 ... which, you know, I think you, you've become even more famous for thanks to social media-

Nick Kyrgios 52:52 Yeah

Trevor Noah 52:52 ... you know, TikTok and you name it. Like, in, in those moments, I mean, I don't need to tell you this, but I will anyway. As a fan of the sport, I live, I genuinely live for that moment, Nick.

Nick Kyrgios 53:03 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 53:03 I, I don't think you're... I don't care whether it works or not.

Nick Kyrgios 53:06 Yeah, me too.

Trevor Noah 53:06 I live for that moment-

Nick Kyrgios 53:07 Me too. Me too

Trevor Noah 53:07 ... because it feels unscripted, it feels original.

Nick Kyrgios 53:11 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 53:11 Like, when you, when you, when you're hitting those crazy trick shots to a fellow pro and you see them smiling and everything, like, is that, is that a moment when Nick's having fun on the court?

Nick Kyrgios 53:19 Yeah, it's just like that, that's like a, I'll, I'll, I'll, like, that's, like, a part that I look back on and I'm like, "Those, those were cool moments," 'cause they're just, like, my personality coming through. And I think when I see the youth kind of, you know, going and doing that in their, like, small tennis center and they're trying to aspire to be-

Trevor Noah 53:35 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 53:35 ... like me, that, that, that's, that's a real cool part about it. Like, that's a bit of my personality where it's like, you know, show yourself, show yourself what you want and what you like.

Trevor Noah 53:43 Uh-huh.

Nick Kyrgios 53:43 How you wanna play in those moments, it's pretty cool.

Trevor Noah 53:45 Would you ever go into coaching?

Nick Kyrgios 53:47 I would, yeah, yeah. I mean, she's asked for a couple tips and couple things, and I've helped her, and a lot of players do. I think I've got... I'm a student of the game where, like, I'm really smart tactically, and I feel like I can help a lot of players. So yeah, probably, maybe.

Trevor Noah 53:59 What would you do differently as a coach to what all the, quote-unquote, let's just call them-

Nick Kyrgios 54:04 Um, well-

Trevor Noah 54:04 ... you know, mainstream coaches are doing?

Nick Kyrgios 54:06 Most-

Trevor Noah 54:06 What do you, what do you think s- what do you think coaches miss?

Nick Kyrgios 54:08 I think most coaches miss, like, actually caring for the athlete and their wellbeing first. I think they, they care about the tennis first, most of them, and they don't really care about, okay, how's my, how's my player's life actually going? How... Like, I would have to spend time with my student, I guess. I'd have to know what their tendencies are, how, what they like to do, how they, how their personality-

Trevor Noah 54:30 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 54:30 ... is off the court. You know, I need to know how they... Like, just I need to get to know them and care about them first, have that connection and make sure that's solid before I actually-

Trevor Noah 54:39 Mm-hmm, mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 54:39 ... because how are they gonna listen to me, first of all? If I don't care about them as, like, the... and I gain that respect, they're not gonna listen to me on the court. And I feel like that was something that I struggled with. Like, I, I knew early in my career people didn't really care about my wellbeing. Like, I was paying them, and they never hung out, and they never really got to know me, and I was like, "Okay, so now they're-

Trevor Noah 54:56 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 54:56 ... showing up on the tennis court." I'm like, "I can't, I can't do that. I can't do those relationships." So I guess I would just be there. Like, I'd be early mornings with them, late nights. Um, you know, go through the ups and downs a- and get to know them as a person and, and, yeah, that would be the difference, I think.

Trevor Noah 55:11 I remember, um, players at Inter Milan talking about José Mourinho.

Nick Kyrgios 55:18 Yep.

Trevor Noah 55:19 And, and a lot of the players were saying one of the reasons they regard him as one of the greatest coaches of all time-

Nick Kyrgios 55:25 Yep

Trevor Noah 55:25 ... is not because of what he does on the field, it's what he does off the field. They said he involves himself in every aspect of your life, like a real human being.

Nick Kyrgios 55:33 Yep.

Trevor Noah 55:33 He's like, "How is your wife? How's your family? How are the kids? What's going on?"

Nick Kyrgios 55:36 It's the most important stuff.

Trevor Noah 55:37 Sometimes he would even let a player not play the game because he's like, "Hey, I get back home you're struggling with a lot." And I, I, I, I often think about that with sport, you know? Like, are we doing a good job treating athletes like the human beings that they are, especially thinking about, like, the mental aspects of the game. Like, I don't know if you've ever read, um, Zlatan Ibrahimović's book, but in, in the book he talks about... It's a really, really fantastic book. I'd recommend it if you haven't. He, he talks about how before one of the biggest matches of his career he was dealing with the fact that him and his wife had lost, like, a child. Like, you know, like... And it was, it was this, you know, it was, it was painful, painful story of him talking about his wife was pregnant and then-

Nick Kyrgios 56:20 Yeah

Trevor Noah 56:20 ... and he has to go and play in a final and, and that's it.

Nick Kyrgios 56:22 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 56:22 And all the fans care about is did you score, did you not score?

Nick Kyrgios 56:24 Yeah, it's-

Trevor Noah 56:24 You're dealing with this private thing that nobody knows about. You know?

Nick Kyrgios 56:28 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 56:28 No, no one, no one gets to talk about it. I'd love to know, like, did you ever s- did you ever get therapy? Did anyone ever recommend it? Was it something that you-

Nick Kyrgios 56:37 Oh, definitely. Yeah

Trevor Noah 56:37 ... that you were exposed to?

Nick Kyrgios 56:38 I've seen a lot of psych- psychologists and I went to this, like, kinda, this psychological kinda rehab place in London. Um, you know-

Trevor Noah 56:47 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 56:47 ... I was playing 2019 Wimbledon, I went there and I got... You know, I went there, I, I sought a bit of help and it was kinda like a scary time, 'cause I had to play Nadal the next day. And they were like, "You should stay here for, like, a week or two," and I was like, "I can't really do that, 'cause I've gotta play Nadal the next day." And that was when I... It was a big wake-up call for me. I was like, "Shit, I need to kinda drag myself out of this period," because-

Trevor Noah 57:08 Damn

Nick Kyrgios 57:08 ... no matter what I do, people are really not gonna care about the things I've got off, you know, off the court.

Trevor Noah 57:13 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 57:14 Yeah. Like, my, my, my, my grandmother, she passed away, um, this year and, and she was, like... She was quite old. She lived a great life. Um, she was like 94-

Trevor Noah 57:23 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 57:23 ... I think, or 95. And that day, you know, I was training and, and she'd passed away, and I was in Sydney and she was in Canberra, and my family were FaceTiming me.

Trevor Noah 57:30 Mm.

Nick Kyrgios 57:30 And I was FaceTiming her. And I was on the c- camera to her watching her kind of, you know, go through that phase of just-

Trevor Noah 57:36 Oh, wow

Nick Kyrgios 57:36 ... and then it's like, then I'm at a tennis center training and people are coming up to photos. And, like, that was, like, that's the kinda thing that people just don't get.

Trevor Noah 57:43 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 57:43 Like, it was my, it was my girlfriend's birthday as well. So it was my girlfriend's birthday, like-

Trevor Noah 57:47 Damn

Nick Kyrgios 57:47 ... um, my grandmother passed away, and I was h- tr- I was training, and people would just come up for photos. And it's like that sorta stuff takes so much of a toll on someone, it's like, sorry that I might be miserable the next day. Do you know what I mean? Like, it's like [laughs] -

Trevor Noah 57:59 Right, right

Nick Kyrgios 57:59 ... but people don't get that. They're like, "Oh, how, how arrogant of you not to take a photo." I'm like, "Dude, like, I just... Like, five minutes ago my grandma just passed."

Trevor Noah 58:07 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 58:07 Do you know what I mean? Like, they don't, they don't care about that.

Trevor Noah 58:09 Yeah, no, I know exa- I know exactly what you mean. I know exa-

Nick Kyrgios 58:10 And it's-

Trevor Noah 58:11 My gran passed away l- last year. Same, same thing. It's the same, like... And you don't, you don't want to, nor should you have to deal with it with strangers. Like, you don't wanna tell everyone, "Oh, my grandmother just died. My grandmother just died."

Nick Kyrgios 58:22 Exactly. But then if you don't take a photo it's like, "Oh, well, why are you so rude?"

Trevor Noah 58:26 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 58:26 I'm like, "Dude, all right, do you wanna know?" And then they... Like, it's, it's crazy, man.

Trevor Noah 58:30 Yeah. Uh, it's-

Nick Kyrgios 58:31 It's hard

Trevor Noah 58:31 ... that line, they, "They only miss you when you're gone." It's, it's, it's, it's, it's that feeling.

Nick Kyrgios 58:36 Of course.

Trevor Noah 58:38 One, one, one aspect I definitely wanna touch on before, before I let you go is, is your relationship. You, you've been really open and, and it seems like you give a lot of credit to, to your partner for how she, like, how she's helped you in your life. You've talked about her getting you out of the darkest moments, how she sees you when other people don't. I remember watching her at Arthur Ashe, if I'm not mistaken. It was like... And, like, seeing how she sort of felt for you in some of the moments on the game.

Nick Kyrgios 59:05 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 59:05 Sometimes, in the game, sometimes-

Nick Kyrgios 59:06 Yeah

Trevor Noah 59:06 ... it even felt like you were just playing in front of her. It wasn't even about the rest of us. What, what's-

Nick Kyrgios 59:12 Yeah

Trevor Noah 59:12 ... what has that relationship meant to you and, and, um, and how easy is it to be in a relationship when you're in the position that you're in?

Nick Kyrgios 59:20 Oh, I mean, first of all, being in a relationship in my per- like in Alf, I guess in e- in anyone that's kind of in the limelight, it's not easy at all. Like, it's, it's really hard. You know, there's a lot of eyes on your relationship. There's a lot of people that have-

Trevor Noah 59:32 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 59:32 ... their opinions, and on social media they're commenting this or that. Like, a lot of garbage that gets kinda fueled into it.

Trevor Noah 59:39 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 59:39 And then, like, obviously-

Trevor Noah 59:41 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 59:41 ... you know, following and liking and all this and, you know-

Trevor Noah 59:43 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 59:43 ... I think the best thing about my relationship is that we have really nice, re- really good boundaries, and we both respect it. And we, we know that trust is really the only currency you have in a relationship. And once you break it, I think it's, it's really hard to... Especially in the limelight, once it's a little bit broken, it's, it's really too hard to fix, but-

Trevor Noah 1:00:00 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 1:00:00 ... she's just present.

Trevor Noah 1:00:01 Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 1:00:01 I think that's one thing that I say about my girlfriend now. She's just present, and she knows the whirlwind of my life. Like, when I travel and when I'm in the spotlight, and when I'm dealing with negativity or positivity, and I'm winning and I'm stressed, like, she's just there. Like, I just, like, I play on the biggest stadiums in the world and I get back to the little hallway, and she's just waiting there, and she's like, "Yeah, you did really well." And it's like she just sits there and she's just like, "I'm proud of you." And, you know, we go home and we'll make food together. It's just like I love just the simplest of things. Like, I don't need anything. It's like just be present for me.

Trevor Noah 1:00:33 Mm-hmm.

Nick Kyrgios 1:00:33 Because, like, in the whirlwind of my life and the shit storm, I just wanna come home to a nice, calm environment where we can talk and just relax. And I don't wanna talk about tennis, just like, "What are you doing today?" Or, "What are we doing?" I just love that.

Trevor Noah 1:00:43 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 1:00:43 And I think that that's just-

Trevor Noah 1:00:44 Yeah, just who are you as a human being?

Nick Kyrgios 1:00:46 Like, I know it's not easy. Like, I'm not easy to be with. Like, there's a lot of shit that comes with me and I've-

Trevor Noah 1:00:51 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 1:00:51 ... got a lot of baggage and I've got a lot of spotlight. And people don't, like, I know pe- not everyone wants that. It's not fun all the time. And I think my girlfriend now, she's just really part of... She's just, yeah, she's just present. She just rides the waves, like, and she's really good to travel with. That is the biggest thing, and that's how you know if she's the one or not. If you can travel with your partner- And not lose your shit at them with like delayed flights-

Trevor Noah 1:01:11 Right

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:12 ... or shitty hotels.

Trevor Noah 1:01:12 Right.

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:13 If you can travel with your partner, then she's the one.

Trevor Noah 1:01:15 Yeah. It goes both ways. I always tell people, I say, "If you, if you wanna know where you really are in a relationship, travel alone with someone."

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:23 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:01:23 No matter who it is.

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:24 Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:01:24 You will expose yourself. 'Cause that's ... You like ... When you wake up-

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:27 Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:01:27 ... together, go to bed together, deal with the hotel together, the, you know, like you said, the flight's delayed, the- there's a s- problem with the seats-

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:33 Yeah, everything

Trevor Noah 1:01:34 ... result. You will know who the other person is.

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:35 Yeah. Adversity, yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:01:38 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:38 Yeah. And then that's how I know you have-

Trevor Noah 1:01:38 You know, you know. What if she opened up an OnlyFans? Like you, 'cause you have an, you have an OnlyFans thing.

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:42 Um, well that's the thing, like-

Trevor Noah 1:01:42 I saw this and I was like, I was like, I was like, "Nick, what, what the hell is this?" And then I was like, okay, it's not what ... It's not like a ... It's funny 'cause OnlyFans-

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:48 No, obviously not. Like, like-

Trevor Noah 1:01:49 ... started off as this idea where you could just share-

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:52 Exactly

Trevor Noah 1:01:52 ... insider insights. Now people think of-

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:55 Yes

Trevor Noah 1:01:55 ... OnlyFans as only being porn. When I saw-

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:57 Of course

Trevor Noah 1:01:57 ... Nick Kyrgios is on OnlyFans, I was like, "What?"

Nick Kyrgios 1:01:59 Yeah. What did you think? You were gonna see my ... What did you think you were gonna see, my executive equipment?

Trevor Noah 1:02:03 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:04 Obviously not. Um.

Trevor Noah 1:02:05 I thought I was gonna see your tennis balls, Nick.

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:07 No, but like-

Trevor Noah 1:02:07 That's what I thought, man.

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:08 Yeah, baby.

Trevor Noah 1:02:09 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:09 That's a lot, a lot of people wanna see. But it's like, it's crazy. You know? And it's like I'm just giving insights of like my training regimes, like my rehab.

Trevor Noah 1:02:16 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:16 My dog. Like normal life stuff that people love to see. It's like, oh, I'm doing-

Trevor Noah 1:02:21 Mm-hmm

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:21 ... you know, I've gone in behind the scenes of Good Trouble, my show. Or like-

Trevor Noah 1:02:24 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:25 ... you know, like just tennis stuff. And it's like I think in a way ... Look, I, I think some part of OnlyFans obviously very, very insane. Like I would never, ever do anything like ... Obviously I'm not gonna go out there, take my shirt off for shit and do ... Like that's not happening.

Trevor Noah 1:02:40 Right, right.

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:40 But at the same time, like I think ... Look, there's a way to ... I've got so many fans that are, are willing to, you know, see my stuff and my stuff only.

Trevor Noah 1:02:48 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:49 Not, not that stuff, but [laughs] just normal stuff.

Trevor Noah 1:02:50 Not your stuff.

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:51 And I think-

Trevor Noah 1:02:51 Not your stuff, but your stuff. Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 1:02:52 ... yeah. And I think, I think it's cool. But the cool thing about it is that every media platform now that wants to see what I'm up to has to subscribe to my OnlyFans. So I did my-

Trevor Noah 1:03:00 That's hilarious

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:00 ... I do like big announce ... I do a big announcements on my Instagram. I'm like, "Make sure you go to my Instagram."

Trevor Noah 1:03:06 That is hilarious.

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:07 And then all these media platforms are subscribing to my OnlyFans, and then they gotta go-

Trevor Noah 1:03:10 [laughs]

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:10 ... and see what I'm doing. So it's like I'm just stealing, I'm just stealing their money.

Trevor Noah 1:03:14 Oh, man.

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:15 Like, I don't know. Yeah. So any ... The tennis world now-

Trevor Noah 1:03:17 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:17 ... has to sub to my OnlyFans to be like, "Oh, that's what he's doing? Oh, shit. We had to sign up."

Trevor Noah 1:03:20 So then now, so then now they know what's hap- It's like, it's like paying the tabloid to follow you for a change, which is-

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:25 Exactly.

Trevor Noah 1:03:26 Yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:26 And it's like-

Trevor Noah 1:03:26 That's actually-

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:26 Yeah. It's payback. Yeah.

Trevor Noah 1:03:27 That's actually a great idea.

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:28 You're gonna, you're gonna start doing it now, aren't you? [laughs]

Trevor Noah 1:03:30 Yeah. No, I mean, that's actually ... I'm not, I'm not mad at this idea actually. Would you ever do a, would you ever stream gaming as well?

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:36 Yeah, yeah. I c- like, I was ... That's what I mean. I was streaming. I'm gonna ... I'm playing some games like Logan Paul and stuff, and I'm gonna stream 'em on OnlyFans and stuff.

Trevor Noah 1:03:41 Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:42 Like it's, it's cool. Like it's cool. And I think I'm actually helping the platform a bit gain some more, you know-

Trevor Noah 1:03:48 Yeah

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:48 ... athletes.

Trevor Noah 1:03:48 Yeah. You are.

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:48 I think it's cool. I would actually subscribe to if like Jason Tatum or Boston Celtics had OnlyFans, I would ... Hell yeah, I would subscribe, like to get inside the locker room and see like-

Trevor Noah 1:03:57 Right, right

Nick Kyrgios 1:03:58 ... dope like huddles before they go out. 100%.

Trevor Noah 1:04:00 Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:00 You kidding me? Definitely I would.

Trevor Noah 1:04:02 Get inside the game and into the human being. Well, you know what? I'll, I'll tell you as one of your fans, yeah, man, I, I, I appreciate, I appreciate who you are as a person. I appreciate how flawed you've been in public. I appreciate the fact that you have, you've survived through it all. I know it's not easy. I can't imagine what it's like-

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:19 That's amazing. Yeah

Trevor Noah 1:04:19 ... you know, at the age that you were doing it and in, on, you know, under the microscope that you, that you're constantly under. But, um, yeah, man, I, I, I appreciate that you, that you try, that you grow, that you talk about your mental health, that you, you do it all, and that you're, that you're a great guy. For real, man.

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:33 I appreciate that. Thank you.

Trevor Noah 1:04:33 I really appreciate. It's great to meet your heroes.

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:35 It's a pleasure, man.

Trevor Noah 1:04:35 And they are, they're as fantastic as you are, man.

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:38 Oh. Thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks for having me on.

Trevor Noah 1:04:39 Yeah. So keep doing it.

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:40 I really, really appreciate it.

Trevor Noah 1:04:40 And I, I promise you now. Just do me one fav- I promise you now. This is what I ...

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:44 What?

Trevor Noah 1:04:44 It's the promise I made to myself, Nick. I always go, "If the world is ending, you've got to figure out what kind of party you're throwing for it." And I think of that in your career as well.

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:53 I would just sit in front of my PC and play.

Trevor Noah 1:04:54 Yeah. But I'm thinking-

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:55 Like, was over.

Trevor Noah 1:04:56 I'm thinking the same thing for you, man.

Nick Kyrgios 1:04:57 Yeah. That's, that's suitable.

Trevor Noah 1:04:58 When you're on the road, when it's that final goodbye, please, I, I promise you I'm not wrong on this, make it a party, man. Leave. Make it the biggest goodbye, the most fun. Bring your people. Make it raucous. Leave your stamp on the sport. Don't let the sport leave its stamp on you.

Nick Kyrgios 1:05:14 Appreciate that. Thank you.

Trevor Noah 1:05:16 Yeah, man.

Nick Kyrgios 1:05:16 Thanks. All right, bro.

Trevor Noah 1:05:17 Thank you again, Nick.

Nick Kyrgios 1:05:18 Take it easy, okay?

Trevor Noah 1:05:18 Appreciate you.

Nick Kyrgios 1:05:19 See you, man.

Trevor Noah 1:05:19 All right, cool.

Nick Kyrgios 1:05:20 Bye. [upbeat music]

Trevor Noah 1:05:26 What Now? with Trevor Noah is produced by Spotify Studios in partnership with Day Zero Productions, Fullwell 73, and Audacy's Pineapple Street Studios. The show is executive produced by Trevor Noah, Ben Winston, Jenna Weiss-Berman, and Barry Finkel. Produced by Emmanuel Hapsis and Marina Henke. Music mixing and mastering by Hannes Brown. Thank you so much for listening. Join me next Thursday for another episode of What Now? [upbeat music]