(Reuters) – Nick Kyrgios said he is “thankful” to Andy Murray for looking out for him after he spotted signs of self-harm on the Australian’s body.
The 28-year-old has previously opened up about the mental health struggles he has battled throughout his career and in June revealed in a Netflix documentary he had spent time in a psychiatric hospital after losing at Wimbledon in 2019.
“Andy was always a big supporter of me,” Kyrgios said in an interview with Piers Morgan Uncensored on TalkTV.
“As soon as I came on the tour, he kind of saw a work in progress and took me under his wing.
“Then he realised later in my career that I don’t think I was coachable or I was on my own path, but he was always someone that was looking out for me.
“He saw it (the self-harm), and he said, ‘What’s that on your arm?’ It was pretty bad at that stage. Andy obviously was trying to give me advice on it. But I was just so stuck in my ways at that time that I didn’t listen.
“Obviously I’m very thankful. I thank him a lot.”
Kyrgios wrote a lengthy Instagram post in February last year about his mental health struggles, at the end of which he said he was in a much better place.
Currently sidelined through injury, the Australian said he feels proud for being able to help people who are having mental health issues.
“I’ve almost been a beacon for people who are struggling,” he added. “When they feel like they’re overwhelmed and they’re going towards drinking, drugs and stuff, they open up and they feel like I’m relatable,” Kyrgios said.
“That’s been the most powerful thing in my career, people coming to me with genuine issues.”
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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