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After hearing that Matteo Berrettini suffered from depression, Nick Kyrgios, who also had a dark period in his life, comforted the Italian on social media platform X. “I experienced too many mental & physical tears...
the darkness seems to have no end, it swallows you. Instead of standing still & catching your breath, you dig yourself an abyss… I tried to find myself. The dark gave me space to do it,” Berretini told Corriere Dela Serra as quoted by The Tennis Letter.
"Sorry to hear big fella! Glad you got out of it though! Here if you need anything," Kyrgios wrote on X after hearing about the Italian's mental problems.
The Italian player was also asked how he feels now. "The problem with this sport is that the entire muscular system and mind are subjected to constant changes: the surface of the playing field, the consequent speed, travel with sudden changes in time zone and climate.Sorry to hear big fella! Glad you got out of it though! Here if you need anything.
🙏🏽 https://t.co/27fSHIOBAh — Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) August 6, 2023
Then there is a rule of conduct that looks like the famous paragraph 22 of the American army: you can only find the condition by playing, but if you play too much you risk. Today I feel good inside and I have a smile when I take the field," said Matteo.
Nick Kyrgios was also in a dark place
Similarly to Berrettini, Nick Kyrgios also walked through a dark place in his life. "I crossed a phase in which I hated tennis, then I understood that a lot of people looked at me. It's important.
Last year it was fantastic: I reached the final in Wimbledon. I finally did something that will remain forever. I seriously trained and did things well. They often have that I wasted my talent, which I will never really satisfy.The situation is often out of control, especially with the Australian media that always make negative comments.
These are things that unconsciously strikes you and enter within you. It is not easy to manage all this.I was like most children, I just wanted to play every day. I ate well and badly. I didn't think I would become one of the best players in the world.
Then when I beat Nadal in Wimbledon, many people reached my apartment to celebrate and I didn't know how to manage the situation.I don't like attention. Tennis is one of the most followed sports in Australia. I drank every day.
I remember that four years ago I drank five or six times a week and I was playing anyway at the highest levels. This was not healthy.I woke up after drinking aware that I would have to face Nadal in a few hours. It is not sustainable.
I won a tournament during this period. Now I can check myself. My parents cook very well. I weighed a lot at 15/16 years old.I was quite fat and it was hard, because many teachers told me that I would not play at high levels because of my weight.
I knew I had to lose several kilos, but I won on the field. It was not easy to manage all these insecurities.I still deal with this aspect. Overweight guys are afraid of physical activity and to be judged for how they appear.
I like to support them and show him my photo (Kyrgios showed the photo of when he was just a boy - ed.).I think it is a strength, the most beautiful thing linked to my career. Look at my photo, it was not expected that that child in the future beat Djokovic and Nadal.
I didn't think I was so fat when he was a child.The coaches started to let me notice that I was not in the best form and that I ate too much. I didn't think about being a professional: I was playing and I was good. There are people who continued to believe in me and they helped me.When I had problems with drugs and alcohol I moved this people away.
I was no longer in contact with them. Approaching me again to them really helped me a lot. Isolating is the worst thing. I don't care more what the media say.I know that the more they push on a topic and the more they get views.
It annoys me to feel inappropriate words or phrases towards me. As racist phrases, what with who I had to deal with. This really makes me angry.I worked on my left knee recently, so I won't be able to play for some time. Tennis is a brutal sport.
It's really hard: you play a five -hour match and you have only one day to recover.To conquer a slam you have to win seven leaving hard, it is almost impossible. You lose almost every week and it's difficult. People don't understand how complicated it is to lose and then travel to play another tournament.
A single player wins.I don't do anything crazy if you think about other sports. In tennis I cannot go beyond the line, because they would suspend me and I need to play. When people post something on social media concerning tennis, they always talk about me, Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal. Nobody else. They always use my name to sell tickets."