Nick Kyrgios has been in bombshell mode since declaring that he would not be participating in the Australian Open in 2024. This time, he has taken on the idea of equal prize money, disproving the claim that female players earn the same amount of money at Grand Slams as male players.
In addition to opening up about his mental health concerns, Kyrgios has specifically stated this week that he feels as though his tennis career may be coming to an end and that he doesn’t feel like playing anymore.
He gave the example of Elina Svitolina, stating that he felt it was unfair that she could play for about forty minutes while he could play for four hours and receive the same payment. Of course, with female players spending far more time on the court, this isn’t a true representation.
Kyrgios expressed his thoughts in a recent interview and said: “I played for four hours at the Australian Open, then Elina Svitolina played for like 40 minutes and we both got paid the same.”
He also criticized a possible merger between the ATP and WTA, claiming that it makes no sense and that if the WNBA and NBA pursued a similar project, people would laugh it out of the building.
He added: “If we’re merging, you merge the draws; you merge everything. But why is tennis the only sport that deals with this stuff? If the WNBA said, ‘Let’s merge’, the NBA would ridicule them.”
Nick Kyrgios' tennis career could be coming to an end.#BBCTennis pic.twitter.com/Mv5GGD8xEi
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) December 13, 2023
Nick Kyrgios in 2023
At the moment ranked no.470, the Australian played his last match on the 13th of June when he surrendered to world no.121 Yibing Wu 7-5 6-3 in the 1st round in Stuttgart (draw).
This season Kyrgios has a 0-1 match record.
Elina Svitolina in 2023
LWWLWLWWLW Now the world no.25, the Ukrainian played her last match on the 2nd of September when she was overcome by world no.5 Jessica Pegula 6-4 4-6 6-2 in the 3rd round of the U.S. Open (draw).
At the moment, during this season the Ukrainian has a 21-12 record. The Ukrainian has won 1 title in Strasbourg.
