Nick Kyrgios Professional Tennis Star opens up about his controversial life on and off the court.

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast To tennis fans around the world, Nick Kyrgios is as unorthodox as they come. He is a trailblazer in a sport full of tradition, pushing the rules to the brink, wearing his emotions on his sleeve and stepping on the court with a flare never seen before yet his calm demeanor and laid back tone caught Ryan, Channing and Fred by surprise as they sat with him for a layered conversation of sports, limelight, family, mental health and surviving scrutiny. Kyrgios' antics during matches are a sharp contrast from the chill man sitting across from the guys and an example of an athlete’s reputation in the media not truly representing who that person is. Growing up in Australia, Nick had a unique childhood, spending a decade training from age 10yrs old working towards his goal of becoming a tennis star. His work paid off, and Nick became one of two tennis players on tour to defeat Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic on the first try. Nick shares how expectations were low and he surpassed people's thoughts giving him the reassurance that he didn't need others approval but just needed his own self respect and worth. Not only did he have historical wins on the court, but he did it his way, with trick shots that were unfamiliar at the time and a style not supported by the Tennis faithful. With the holiday season underway, let us help you find the perfect gift for you or the ones closest to you. Check out Etsy marketplace, Use the code HOLIDAY10 for10% off your first purchase. That’s code HOLIDAY10 Maximum discount value of fifty dollars. Expires December 31st, 2023. See terms at Etsy dot com slash terms. We've teamed up with our friends at DraftKings and are helping new and existing customers get in on the action of sports all week long so Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app today and use our promo code DEFENSE when signing up!. [5%/bold] GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER (1-800-426-2537) (AZ/CO/IA/IL/IN/KS/KY/LA/MD/MI/NJ/OH/OR/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY), (800) 327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). [3.5%/bold] Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-800-522-4700 (NH), 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT), or visit www.1800gambler.net (WV). [1.5%] 21+ (18+ KY/NH/WY). Physically present in AZ/CO/CT/IL/IN/IA/KS/KY/LA(select parishes)/MA/MD/MI/NJ/NY/OH/PA/TN/VA/WV/WY only. Void in ONT/OR/NH. Eligibility restrictions apply. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). Bet $5 Get $150: Valid 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min. $5 bet. $150 issued in bonus bets. No Sweat: Opt in req. 1 No Sweat token issued per day. SGP/SGPx bets only. 3+ legs req. Max. wagering limits apply. Must use funds from cash balance. Must select a token BEFORE placing a bet. Bet must lose after applying Token. Paid as one Bonus Bet based on amount of losing bet. Tokens expire at the start of the last game each day when offered. No Sweat cannot be used to redeem Bet $5 Get $150 offer. Rewarded bonus bets expire 7 days (168 hours) after being awarded. Bonus bets must be wagered 1x and stake is not included in winnings. Ends 12/18/23 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK. See terms at dkng.co/ftball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior like beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  We got two hoopers on the set though.

• 0:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, I can play.

• 0:33Ryan Clark?

  Come here and nick a hoop.

• 0:34Channing Crowder?

  I saw Fred's high school picture, and I know Nick can hoop.

• 0:39Ryan Clark?

  No, I can hoop. Me, me and Nick.

• 0:44Fred Taylor?

  I know I can beat you in one on one.

• 0:46Ryan Clark?

  Freddie T, there's no way.

• 0:47Fred Taylor?

  I know I can beat you in one on one, bro.

• 0:49Ryan Clark?

  I can really hoop though, bro.

• 0:50Fred Taylor?

  Man, bro, you move too slow. I'm locking him up.

• 0:56Channing Crowder?

  He does this for Shaq and people like that. Real NBA Hall of Famers.

• 1:01Speaker 02

  Do you have any footage? Because I'm not biased here, I'll actually like.

• 1:04Ryan Clark?

  First off.

• 1:05Channing Crowder?

  So receipts, I like it, receipts.

• 1:07Ryan Clark?

  I got the VHS. What you mean?

• 1:09Channing Crowder?

  No, ain't nobody got a ticket. That's why you got a VHS.

• 1:12Ryan Clark?

  I got the VHS.

• 1:13Fred Taylor?

  Channing, Kali Elamine.

• 1:15Channing Crowder?

  That's what he is.

• 1:16Ryan Clark?

  First off, Kali Elamine was fat. I'm not fat.

• 1:18Fred Taylor?

  No, but you got a.

• 1:19Ryan Clark?

  It was fat back. And why you keep, why you going to the booty?

• 1:22Fred Taylor?

  No, I'm like, your lower half is.

• 1:24Ryan Clark?

  Is it?

• 1:25Fred Taylor?

  Kali Elamine.

• 1:26Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, whatever.

• 1:27Fred Taylor?

  But I would beat you. I would beat you in a one on one.

• 1:30Ryan Clark?

  There's no way.

• 1:30Fred Taylor?

  A thousand percent. We put it on tape.

• 1:32Ryan Clark?

  I put a thousand dollars on it.

• 1:34Fred Taylor?

  Put ten.

• 1:34Ryan Clark?

  That's fine with me.

• 1:36Fred Taylor?

  You got a lot of jobs. I know what that correlation is.

• 1:38Ryan Clark?

  I ain't tripping.

• 1:39Fred Taylor?

  You got a lot of money.

• 1:41Ryan Clark?

  I want it. Freddie T? Come on, man. Freddie T acting like he's a race.

• 1:46Channing Crowder?

  Didn't you pull your hair string getting off an airplane?

• 1:48Fred Taylor?

  Kenny Smith knees. No.

• 1:51Ryan Clark?

  I ain't playing no goddamn sports. Don't bring me into this conversation.

• 1:53Fred Taylor?

  Getting off a plane? No. We got more important things. Would you ever fight a kangaroo?

• 2:00Speaker 02

  No, they're pretty dangerous, I'm not gonna lie.

• 2:02Fred Taylor?

  Yeah?

• 2:02Speaker 02

  But we don't, people think that we see them all the time. We don't see them all. Where I'm from, um, we don't see. We see kangaroos, but they're not like too violent.

• 2:11Fred Taylor?

  Well.

• 2:11Speaker 02

  If you go up to it and like, look, be aggressive, then it will like, it'll try and box you.

• 2:14Fred Taylor?

  Like the thing, the guy on Instagram, I think the kangaroo had his dog cuddled.

• 2:19Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:20Fred Taylor?

  What do you call it, when you cuddle from the back?

• 2:21Ryan Clark?

  Spoon.

• 2:22Fred Taylor?

  He was spooning the dog in the water and the man went in the water and fought the kangaroo. I'm like, is this real?

• 2:27Speaker 02

  Yeah, it's real. Yeah, this stuff in Australia gets pretty wild.

• 2:30Ryan Clark?

  It's like Florida. Where in Florida you live?

• 2:32Fred Taylor?

  Nah.

• 2:33Ryan Clark?

  We live in Florida.

• 2:33Fred Taylor?

  They got the most deadly.

• 2:34Ryan Clark?

  No, no, no, but people that don't live in Florida, they think alligators are waiting behind trees for you and shit. Like you think a kangaroo is sitting outside the house waiting to punch you in your face, you gotta go fool them animals, Fred.

• 2:44Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're big, they're tall.

• 2:46Fred Taylor?

  With muscles.

• 2:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, they're like, they can get, they can get big.

• 2:49Ryan Clark?

  You understand?

• 2:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, you can eat kangaroo.

• 2:51Ryan Clark?

  You can eat?

• 2:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 2:52Ryan Clark?

  Like as a normal?

• 2:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's normal in Australia to eat kangaroo.

• 2:55Ryan Clark?

  Oh, I gotta get some of that.

• 2:56Fred Taylor?

  Go ahead and say it.

• 2:57Speaker 02

  They don't smell good, they taste okay though.

• 2:59Fred Taylor?

  They taste like chicken?

• 3:00Speaker 02

  No, no, no, like they're like red, like beef.

• 3:03Ryan Clark?

  Hey man, first off, this conversation, first, and secondly though, I'm not, I don't like dogs like that. Like if they get Zuri, Zuri out of there. You ain't, you ain't fighting a kangaroo? If Zuri jump in the water with the kangaroo?

• 3:17Speaker 02

  You're not going in there.

• 3:18Ryan Clark?

  It must have been Zuri time to go. She too dumb to live. Yeah, it's too dumb to live. I'm not finna get in the water and box no kangaroo for you.

• 3:26Fred Taylor?

  Yeah.

• 3:26Ryan Clark?

  You know, and I'd be like, you know, your daddy don't swim, no way.

• 3:29Fred Taylor?

  If a kangaroo grabbed one of y'all's ass, I might just throw a rock.

• 3:34Ryan Clark?

  Get off of our scene. Leave Red alone.

• 3:37Fred Taylor?

  Out of there.

• 3:38Ryan Clark?

  Y'all gone.

• 4:04Ryan Clark?

  Well, Nick, welcome to the show, bro. Welcome to the Pivot. This is Freddie T., Chan, I'm RC. Truly grateful, bro, that you took the time to do this. We try to do our best to get the best personalities in sports.

• 4:18Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 4:18Ryan Clark?

  But also on the other side of it, people who have gone through things, come through adversity, so they can tell that story and allow people to connect with them. You know, just in watching you play, seeing the highlights, listening to you commentate recently, the personality stands out. You know, also when you cut your highlights on too, most of it, it starts, you cussing folks out.

• 4:40Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:41Ryan Clark?

  And then obviously, the amazing talent, you know, said, I think it was Josh, Josh Eagle compared you to Roger Federer from a talent standpoint.

• 4:51Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 4:51Ryan Clark?

  Early on in your career. My first question to you, though, is how are you doing? And not like the, hey, bro.

• 4:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:57Ryan Clark?

  I'm alright, like truly, how are you?

• 4:59Speaker 02

  Yeah, I'm good. From where I was a couple of years ago in the career, now it seems like I'm a bit older. I've played professional tennis now for like 10, 10, 10 years on the professional tour. So I've learned a lot about myself, but I feel like I'm in a great part of my life. Family, partner, friends, circle, everything. So I feel like this is probably the first time in my career where I kind of feel probably the most happy. I didn't think it was possible to be this happy, you know, dealing with everything that I was dealing with. So yeah, that's a bonus.

• 5:26Ryan Clark?

  February of 2022, you had an IG post and you talked about some of the things you had gone through. And finally finding yourself in a better place. And toward the end of it, as I was reading it, you said though, like, if you need somebody, I'm here. You know, it's, it's very difficult to not only go through your own stuff very publicly, as you've had to many times, and then to be able to admit, I've gone through a lot. Everything hasn't been perfect. I'm working my way to the other side.

• 5:58Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 5:58Ryan Clark?

  But I also want to be here for other people. What made you decide at that moment to make that post?

• 6:05Speaker 02

  It took a while, it took a while for me to be ready to make that post because it's obviously, once you go out public on Instagram or social media, it's out there, you can't take it down. Um, and I just feel after I did that, the amount of people that continually to this day, you know, reach out to me, whether it be in Australia or, you know, if I'm playing in the US Open in New York, there are always people that are in my DMs, you know, saying like, you know, I'm struggling, I'm, you know, I feel like I'm like depressed or I feel like I can't get through this and I just, you know, take some time out to just send them a DM or sometimes I get their phone number and text them on WhatsApp and just try and help them through that because I feel like when I was going through it, it just felt like the whole world was against me, even though it wasn't like, I felt like I couldn't go to anyone. I felt like I couldn't open up, feel like no one could understand what I was going through.

• 6:46Speaker 02

  But then as soon as I just was a bit vulnerable and talked to my family, my friends, they, they didn't understand completely what I was going through, but they could step by step get me out of that dark kind of place. And, you know, I was playing professional tennis at the highest level, playing Nadal, Federer, like the greatest of all time. And at night times I was, you know, drinking non-stop, self-harming and then playing them in front of thousands of people on the stadium. So it was like, at night I was completely different person and I just had to put on a mask and go out and play the greatest of all time and beat them sometime. So it was a scary time because Australian Open, my home, I was in my backyard, people would assume this is the most, this, this guy's, you know, he's got the best life, he's playing the Australian Open, he's one of the best players in the world in front of his hometown, in front of his friends.

• 7:29Speaker 02

  And I had, my arm was completely covered with cigarette scars, you know, cutting scars. And that's when I got my tattoo sleeve actually the first time to cover it all up. It's a pretty dark time.

• 7:40Channing Crowder?

  And talking about that dark time and the depression and real mental health, what does the word crazy mean to you? Because when you pull up your name, you Google you,

• 7:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:48Channing Crowder?

  you see the word crazy more than anything else, but you know what I'm saying, like the on the, on the court antics. But then like, does that mean more to you than just, because people call me crazy too?

• 7:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 7:57Channing Crowder?

  But what does that mean to you?

• 7:59Speaker 02

  When I meet people for the first time, they think I'm crazy and I'm very mentally unstable and I'm going to do something crazy. Like in Australia, people, if they haven't met me before, will literally just stare at me and be like, this guy's going to do something volatile or something. And I'm like, That's just like, guess a media thing that they've kind of branded me to be. Cause off the court, I'm actually really chilled, you know, I'm very relaxed. I don't take myself too seriously and I think I just turn into someone different when I'm on the court. And that's, I'm sure you got NBA guys that are like that too. They come on the court and between those lines, it's like a completely different ballgame. And that's just how I've been. I've just been a crazy person on the court. I turn into someone different, like my, my, my girlfriend, my best friends, when they watch me, they're like, "Bro, you're nuts on the court. Like, who are you?" And then I get off and I'm just like, I don't know.

• 8:41Speaker 02

  Like, I just tap into this like weird, crazy person. But I don't like it. Like, I don't like it. When I think about it, like, the sad part is everywhere around the world, they just wanna see that person. And then when they realize I'm not like that off the court, they're not as interested as much. So, kinda sucks a little bit.

• 8:58Ryan Clark?

  Like, every time we're walking through the airport, they come up to him and they immediately want him to be funny. Or they immediately want him to be all right.

• 9:06Channing Crowder?

  Say something crazy, you know.

• 9:07Speaker 02

  That's not me. Like, sometimes you wanna be like that for the camera or, you know, the performance. Like tennis, when you're on court, is like the performance. And then off the court, it's like, you don't have to play that role anymore. People don't seem to be as interested in that though.

• 9:18Channing Crowder?

  Do you choose to switch? Cause at some point, when I played, I was like, I farted, cussed people out and all. And, "Bro, we're very similar. You're just better at your sport than I was." But, like, cussing, screaming, talking about people's, you know, "Mom, I don't know. I've never met your mom before, but I'mma call a fact because it might upset you." Do you know, like, okay, I'm warming up, okay, match about to start, let me, let me turn on that other, other side.

• 9:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, definitely. I think that was, even when I was young, I wore my emotions on my sleeve. You know, I wouldn't say trash talk that much, but, you know, sometimes I did. I've, I've spoken about other players' girlfriends on the court before, which has gone pretty viral. And then in the tennis world, trash talk's not normal. Like, in every other sport it is, but in tennis is like, if you say anything, it's like, you're a bad guy. So, yeah, I do turn that switch on. I know when I'm about to walk out on court, I, I turn into someone different, yeah.

• 10:03Fred Taylor?

  Nick, I'm curious, what was childhood Nick like? And when did you fall in love with tennis?

• 10:08Speaker 02

  The funny thing is, I never fell in love with tennis at all. Never, nah, never was a big fan of it. I loved basketball. You know, I was sitting in front of my TV, watching Vince Carter tapes, all that, like, just obsessed with NBA, the culture. I just loved the sport in general. When I was 14, my dad just came outside and said, "Look, we're not gonna play basketball anymore." Cause if from Australia at that time, there was no pathway to kind of making it into, you know, the NBA or say, any sort of big league. So, that was it. Just chose tennis. And tennis was what, probably the biggest sport in Australia at the time. One of the biggest sports. And that was it. I had to leave basketball behind. But yeah, loved basketball, disliked tennis a lot.

• 10:42Fred Taylor?

  So Lil Nick, he wasn't a, and I don't wanna call you an asshole, but was he a good kid?

• 10:47Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was a good kid growing up. I, you know, didn't have much, my family didn't have much. I thought I had the, I thought I had a great life growing up, didn't know anything different. My parents sacrificed everything for me to be here. They put all their eggs in one basket. Just school and didn't think I was gonna become a professional tennis player. And at seventeen, everything changed.

• 11:04Ryan Clark?

  You're here now, and you know, so many times people see the end result, right? Tall, handsome, you know, you spoke about having your girl, I wanna get into that later, but we had, I asked you on the way up, have you ever met Israel Adesanya?

• 11:18Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 11:18Ryan Clark?

  Right, obviously one of the greatest fighters in the world, and he spoke about when he moved to New Zealand, he was in, like finding out he was black, right? Finding out he was darker skinned than other people and being bullied. Also for you, being darker skinned than some of the people or most of the people you were around, being a little overweight. And I thought about it with Fred, say what was young Nick like? What were those times like and how did those instances shape you?

• 11:48Speaker 02

  Uh, yeah, that was, that was hard, and I still think I carry those insecurities today a little bit. Um, you know, some of the legends of Australian sport have told me and my family to go back to where we came from. And those are tough times because, you know, I grew up in Australia and I didn't know any different, you know, I thought I was Australian and the majority of tennis players in Australia are white and they're Australian and obviously I see how the media treat them compared to how they treat me and it's been pretty rough at times, to be honest, and especially for my family, you know, and especially with social media in today's day and age, you see all the hate. You know, my brother has alopecia and people say, you know, cancer jokes about him and stuff, so it's really hard to kind of deal with it all, but I feel like we're all a tight contingent, we all support each other, um, we all have good support groups, but yeah, growing up and dealing with it was, was hard.

• 12:33Ryan Clark?

  You mentioned your parents and the sacrifices they've made, you know, your pops is great, said he worked his butt off.

• 12:38Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 12:39Ryan Clark?

  Just consistently, always worked, uh, but your mother as well, your mother was sick.

• 12:44Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 12:44Ryan Clark?

  A lot when you were growing up, and it said just that you had that attachment, you know, you get out of your bed, go, go to her bedside and be with her. Just explain a little bit of what your relationship with your parents is like.

• 12:55Channing Crowder?

  And you know, how that plays out now when you know, they're sitting in your box watching you play tennis.

• 13:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, my dad, he came from Greece in nineteen sixty-five with pretty much nothing. And then he still works to this day and age. He was, he's the type of guy that, I mean, typical Greek, always looking for a bargain, doesn't want to pay full price for anything. Like, and he still works, he still paints. Um, and he just, yeah, he just grinds every day, gets up and, and I think that's, that's the key to it all. I mean, you look at, when you get older, I think you need to have a purpose, you need to do something. I think retiring early and not having much to do is actually, you know, on the flip side, not, not the best thing to do. From his perspective, I think he just wants to keep going, keep working. And my mom, you know, her health has always been an issue. Um, yeah, like, she just, yeah, from pacemakers to, you know, in credit, like, just, she's had pretty much every treatment under the sun. But she's still, she's probably one of the strongest people I know.

• 13:46Speaker 02

  Um, and yeah, there's inspiration, that's why, you know, continually, just being here for me, I have massive imposter syndrome. I'm sitting in my bed sometimes in Australia, watching you guys on my Instagram and now I'm here, sitting here. So I know that my parents will be proud and that's what, I guess at the end of the day, I keep pushing because they had nothing growing up. So I wanna, I feel like I'd be doing them a disservice if I just stopped doing things like this and tried to push through, so.

• 14:07Channing Crowder?

  What was they say you have, imposter syndrome?

• 14:10Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 14:11Channing Crowder?

  Like, you don't feel like you be whooping people's ass?

• 14:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean.

• 14:14Channing Crowder?

  Like, it's pudding in the pudding, you know?

• 14:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, I mean, look, I've, I've been on just, it's crazy, like, I've, you know, interviewed Mike Tyson, sitting here, like, sometimes it just doesn't feel real. You know, from where, like, I just had such a simple lifestyle growing up, I just didn't think it was gonna be, I don't know. Yeah, it's a bit, it's a bit strange.

• 14:33Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, when I, I told you earlier, when I told my daughter who plays tennis, Ava, that I was interviewing you, she started crying that she couldn't meet you.

• 14:40Speaker 02

  Well, I can send her a video.

• 14:42Channing Crowder?

  No, I'm gonna go, you, you jumping on that FaceTime, brother.

• 14:47Channing Crowder?

  We've met people before and the moment they walk in the room, your thought of them swings because watching you, like you said, it's called 10 minutes of Nick Carrios.

• 14:55Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 14:55Channing Crowder?

  A video.

• 14:55Speaker 02

  Madness. Yeah, I've seen it.

• 14:56Channing Crowder?

  And it's just you slamming rackets and cussing people out and throwing shit around. And I was like, this dude, like you say, he gonna walk in tense.

• 15:04Speaker 02

  He was chill as hell, right?

• 15:05Channing Crowder?

  He walked in, what's up fellas? Hey, you know, hey, how you doing, man?

• 15:09Channing Crowder?

  So like, there's no anger there?

• 15:12Speaker 02

  Nah.

• 15:12Channing Crowder?

  Because you do snap on the court.

• 15:13Speaker 02

  Yeah, on the court, yeah.

• 15:15Channing Crowder?

  That's not Nick, that's, I don't know what that other side is called. That's that different person.

• 15:18Speaker 02

  Yeah, that definitely. It happens every time I get into a competitive mode, that's when I like switch. But when I'm like this, I don't get angry at pretty much anything. Like, you know, my best friend or my family usually has to motivate me to like, alright, let's go do something. I would literally just sit in my room and chill and watch TV, play video games, like get some Chipotle, like I'm chill.

• 15:39Channing Crowder?

  It's crazy. I wanted to go party with him.

• 15:42Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, but like, yeah, when I party or play competitively, that's when I was like, I just can't.

• 15:46Channing Crowder?

  Hey, you party too, Jack? Yeah, the party though. Oh, you can go when you party, yeah.

• 15:50Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 15:51Channing Crowder?

  What about when you were gonna beat up Alexander Volkanovski?

• 15:54Speaker 02

  No, no, no, that. I was so close to telling him to shut up and then he came over. So the first time I met Volk, we were both at this bar in Australia and he was in the next booth next to me and he was being so loud. I didn't know what he looked like at the time and I was about to say like, bro, like keep it down, like no one wants to hear that shit. And then he starts drinking more and then he comes over, he's got two guys carrying him because he can't walk at this stage. Like he's, he's gone for the night. Comes up to me and I'm like, oh no, it's another crazy fan. I don't want to deal with this right now. And he's like, Nick, it's me, it's Volk. And I'm like, holy shit, I was about to tell him to shut up.

• 16:27Channing Crowder?

  UFC featherweight champion.

• 16:31Speaker 02

  Yeah. And then the next day, he's fresh as a daisy. At 8 a.m. he woke up and we had to do this Call of Duty, you know, advertisement thing. But he was fresh, but he was, he was on it that night.

• 16:40Fred Taylor?

  You've been fined over a half a million dollars.

• 16:42Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 16:42Fred Taylor?

  In your career. In the NFL, that would be a record.

• 16:45Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 16:46Fred Taylor?

  What's been your biggest fine and how can you be better at getting back to the top?

• 16:51Speaker 02

  Look, yeah, I don't condone my behavior. Sometimes when I look back on my behavior, you know, from my room or a week later, I'm like, shit, I probably shouldn't have done that. But in the heat of the moment, it's so hard, you know, as competitors, you're in, you want the best out of yourself. And I'm so frustrated that I know I can be better in that moment and. Look, there's hundreds and thousands of dollars on the line. I wanna get the best out of myself and I'm making stupid mistakes. So I get really, really angry. But the cool thing about tennis is the fines go to charity. So when someone told me that, I was like, you probably shouldn't have told me that. Cause now I'm not gonna probably stop. But. Do you get to choose? I don't think you get to choose. I mean, I don't even know if it goes. That's what they told me when, so I hope it does, but. Last year, I had the best year of my career and I barely got fined anything. I wore a red hat at Wimbledon.

• 17:35Speaker 02

  I wore the red Jordan hat and red Jordans and I got fined. But that sort of stuff, I don't care. But my, I think my anger last year wasn't, wasn't as bad. So I didn't get fined anything. Is that because you're winning? You don't create as many answers? I just think mentally off the court, I was just happier. Because early in my career, I had seasons where I was probably winning more. And I probably had, you know, more wins. But I just was so up and down off the court. You know, I was drinking, the drugs, like just like so. Out of control off the court that sometimes on the court I would win, but my behavior would be. Out of control. Where last year I had such a nice team environment. My girlfriend was with me. My agent, my best friend, my, um, my physio, we were all together. So I was, you know, my dad came to Wimbledon. So it was just like a nice feel to it.

• 18:18Speaker 02

  So I felt when I stepped out on court, I was just calmer.

• 18:22Ryan Clark?

  You know, you mentioned that calm and you keep mentioning your best friend, Daniel.

• 18:25Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 18:25Ryan Clark?

  Right. What was it, what was it like when you made the call to him and say, hey, man, can you just come on the road with me? Like I'd like you to be there, you know, say you need to do hooping. You know, when you're younger, you guys stay close. You know, you're starting this, this tennis career and you just make the call like, bro, I just need somebody to stay with me. Just somebody to be close. And what was his sort of response and answer to that?

• 18:47Speaker 02

  Well, yeah, we just started as friends back in Australia and we, you know, every time I'd travel, he just knew I was playing tennis, professional tennis. Then I'd come back home, we'd hang out and he would see me on TV, obviously playing. And then I was like, my, I wasn't happy with my management group originally. And he had a very good knack of, you know, meeting people, communicating with people and, you know, just had that. The power of the mouth, you know, he was like good at talking to people. So I was like, why don't you just, you know, become my, you know, agent slash, you know, that's like my, my first thing in command. If I need anything, you're that guy. And then you have relations with my like other agents. And then he was like, yeah, let's do it. And then that kind of just happened. We just, he became my agent slash best friend. And look, the first couple of years when he came on, I don't think he signed up for the type of shit that I was doing because

• 19:28Speaker 02

  he needed my location on his phone because that's how unpredictable I was on nights out. Like I would end up in places and he would have to like come and find me. So I was, I don't think he was expecting that as early, but now it's, yeah, it's cool. Like one of my best friends that I kind of grew up with, we get to travel and get to experience things and yeah, that's the kind of what I wanted to do. He, no one knows me better than him. So.

• 19:50Ryan Clark?

  Right. You mentioned earlier, you mentioned something about a mask. You have a tattoo

• 19:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:53Ryan Clark?

  that says, give a man a mask and he will become his true self.

• 19:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 19:57Ryan Clark?

  What does that mean to you and why did you get it on your body and ink?

• 20:01Speaker 02

  I just feel like people these days are so afraid of being themselves with, you know, they just show up at face value. They'll be so, you know, I guess, reserved. They won't tell you how they feel. And then as soon as they get behind a, you know, a phone or a computer and they anonymously, that's when they'll tell you how they really feel about things. And that's when they'll want to be themselves. Where I think with me personally, I've been battered in the media, thrown around, people throw disrespect on my name, my family's name, just for being myself. And over the last five years, I haven't changed that. I've just been more of myself. And now the tide's turning a little bit. It's like, okay, we appreciate this guy for being real.

• 20:38Speaker 02

  And he's not going to be anything else. And that's where the respect's now coming. And I'll go around the world, you know, in America, it's where I feel the most comfortable. I played the US Open and they love it. The stadium is packed out, people going crazy. There's barbers fading hair in the crowd. It's crazy stuff. And then like they appreciate my realness where I feel like now in today's day and age, you don't know. Apart from myself and I've struggled with that. And that's, I watched this clip of Michael Beasley saying that he can't like find people that are real. You know, and I'm just like, I've really struggled with that. Like, I try and be as genuine as possible. And I don't know if this person just wants to hang out with me because, you know, I'm Nick Kyrgios or whatever. So that's been a really hard challenge, but I feel like now it's just so impossible to know.

• 21:17Channing Crowder?

  Nick, did you mention that clip because it was our show or did you not know that?

• 21:21Speaker 02

  I watched it because it was, it was real. I got sent it to me so many times. Obviously.

• 21:25Channing Crowder?

  Appreciate the plug, huh? Appreciate the plug.

• 21:28Speaker 02

  No, just, I had about three or four people sending that to me because, you know, I'd spoken about that previously. And you could see how much he was hurting inside by saying that. And I was at that point in 2019 especially.

• 21:40Channing Crowder?

  When you talk about the traveling and all that stuff, like and being alone where you had to get your buddy Daniel to come on. When did that start in life? Because that's crazy to be away from everybody you're comfortable with and some. I don't know, you riding the bus, flying on plane, I don't know what you're doing, but at what age were you isolated like that?

• 21:55Speaker 02

  I started traveling around the world at like 14, 15. And that's the coolest thing. I think Kobe said it as well about tennis. He was really into tennis towards the later stages of his career. He used to come to the US Open and watch. He said like tennis forces you to grow up really quickly. And you become really independent really early in your life. So 14, I was traveling to Philippines through Asia and these third world countries where it was really eye opening for me. You know, I was 14, had people coming up to me begging for money and I didn't. I really realized that in Australia, we were so lucky, you know, growing up. So at 14, started traveling and then 15, 16, I was still at school. And then 17, 18, I was traveling around the world, maybe five, six months a year and then, then went to seven, eight months. It was hard because I'm such a homebody. I love being at home. I love family. I love friends. I love just.

• 22:41Speaker 02

  That's what matters to me. And then it's different hotel every week, different country, different. You know, and sometimes you're not, it's like we're not flying private or anything, you know, we're flying normally. And sometimes hotels not great to these countries and it's hard. It was, tennis is really hard like that because you're losing every week as well. You know, unless you're Novak, Federer or Nadal, you're losing every week. And then you just got to pick yourself back up, go to the next country and just soldier on.

• 23:09Channing Crowder?

  That's tough, man.

• 23:09Speaker 02

  It's hard. And there's no guarantees either in tennis. You don't sign a contract and you just get paid. Like, you basically, you eat what you kill in the sport. If you win, you're making money. And then if you're losing, you're not making anything.

• 23:20Channing Crowder?

  And don't you have to, because I say, my daughter, she loves you to death.

• 23:23Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 23:23Channing Crowder?

  Don't you have to do that to be good? Like, they're trying to get her to homeschool now. And they're trying to get her to go to these tennis academies because she's shown a little talent in tennis. But if you don't do that, could you be Nick Kyrgios if you go to an eight to three school and then go train two hours a night?

• 23:38Speaker 02

  Now, the game is evolving and you need to put more effort into the tennis and the training and the physical conditioning and the playing. But I went to school and I was doing two hours in the morning, then I'd finish school. Sometimes during lunchtime, I'd go train, come back to school and train in the afternoon. It was, it was a lot. It was a lot of work. And it was just my parents. My parents made me feel like that was okay. Like, at the time, I was like, shit, this is a lot for someone that's 16. I was like, why am I doing this? And then they just believed in me a lot. So, um, I think you can do it, but I wish I had the time again. I would have preferred to be homeschooled.

• 24:12Fred Taylor?

  Unlike Channing, you don't have a face for radio.

• 24:16Speaker 02

  I was like, he gets picked on a lot on this, eh?

• 24:18Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, he does.

• 24:21Channing Crowder?

  They know I ain't gonna dive on their ass because I'm a nice guy. Me and Nick are nice guys, that's why.

• 24:25Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, but you, you, he doesn't have a face for radio. You do, you gotta hide behind the thing. Oh, I saw you doing your broadcasting thing. And what made me remember that was you talking about being yourself.

• 24:36Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 24:36Fred Taylor?

  I thought you did an amazing job. Is that who you really are? And do you think you have a future in broadcasting?

• 24:42Speaker 02

  I definitely do. I think, you know, I watch basketball, tennis. I feel like I'm a student of the game. I love breaking it down. I actually prefer watching tennis than I do playing it because I can see what players need to do tactically or, you know, how they, just, I can break down the sport really well. And I just feel like I can articulate things pretty well. But yeah, I can definitely see a future in it. It's definitely less stressful than playing. And it would cost me less money too with all my rackets and stuff.

• 25:06Channing Crowder?

  You brought it up because me and Nick are good-looking guys. You talked about your buddy Day having to find you. He wasn't finding you at arcades. He was leaving, he was, you know, I know you have a beautiful girlfriend now.

• 25:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah.

• 25:17Channing Crowder?

  But you used to kill it. And you said it earlier, you throw on a thicker accent when the girls are around, don't you?

• 25:22Speaker 02

  No.

• 25:23Ryan Clark?

  I told you, bro. Doug, if you got an accent, you already a, you started at six. Hey, anything else, you gotta subtract from there with an accent. Come on, man. Could you imagine if I sound like Nick or Dris Elba? Boy.

• 25:39Channing Crowder?

  You still look like yourself.

• 25:40Speaker 02

  You're crazy.

• 25:41Ryan Clark?

  But I'm gonna be a six, Chad, that's the point. Yeah. Speaking of though, man, you met your, you met your girl looking for a mirror?

• 25:47Speaker 02

  Well, no, it was all planned. So, my reputation in Australia is like, it's, it's like arrogant, it's crazy, it's, this guy's volatile. So I knew, if I just sent her a straight DM, it's like, I know that I'm playing against her reputation. I know she's gonna be like, oh, it's just, he's just, you know, another guy, just trying to, I'm sure we've all been there type of thing. So I was like, how am I gonna work around this to seem like I'm not a stalker or a freak? So I messaged her a little business, I was like, hey, is this mirror available, like, it's for my sister? Just absolute junk. And then I was just like, I needed like, meet up with her, and then, so then I can just, she can meet me and understand that I'm a nice guy. And that was it. I just got the mirror off her, and then I was like, oh, like, we're going out tonight if you wanna come, like, and then that was it. Rest was history.

• 26:30Ryan Clark?

  She said it was kinda love at first sight, though.

• 26:32Speaker 02

  Yeah, it was. I mean, she's, look, I've had some terrible relationships in the past, so she's just a breath of fresh air. She's, I mean, last year she traveled me, I feel like you know if someone's a good person by if you travel with them around the world. You know, airports, delays, sleeping on the floor with suitcases, like, when you get dealt with some adversity.

• 26:50Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 26:51Speaker 02

  And she was fine, every sort of situation we were in, she, she was fine, she wasn't too down about it, we made it fun, so. She's definitely been, um, she's been good, yeah.

• 27:00Ryan Clark?

  See, Chad, that's when I realized you were not a good person. Once we started traveling together.

• 27:05Channing Crowder?

  Great person.

• 27:06Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, but you let, you let somebody steal your carry-on in the airport while you slept. So I know you ain't gonna protect mine.

• 27:15Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, man, somebody got me.

• 27:16Speaker 02

  Why would they do that?

• 27:18Channing Crowder?

  My carry-on and my book bag.

• 27:19Speaker 02

  They took it, they just took it.

• 27:20Channing Crowder?

  They just walked off. I might've, I might've had a couple of drinks in there.

• 27:26Channing Crowder?

  Maybe they slipped them from my head. But they did steal my items, man. I had them.

• 27:32Ryan Clark?

  What's happening Pivot fam? I want to talk to you about Etsy, especially in the holiday season. Whether it's your children, your wife, your husband. It's the place to go for sort of these one of a kind gifts that you could find that are different from what everyone else is doing. Etsy is a marketplace that is there to help you.

• 27:48Channing Crowder?

  And that's what I do, bro. Like y'all know how it is. You done been giving gifts to people for years. You gotta find something more. The throw pillows, the necklaces, the jewelry, whatever you're doing. Etsy can help you out with those gifts for everybody that you love.

• 28:02Fred Taylor?

  The best time of the year for Etsy. I got some nutcrackers off Etsy, six feet candles, some stockings. You can get everything off Etsy.

• 28:10Ryan Clark?

  You can get everything off of Etsy. And if you use the promo code HOLIDAY10, you get 10% off whatever you purchase. And Etsy is for all budgets. If you're new to Etsy, use the code HOLIDAY10 for 10% off your first purchase. That's code HOLIDAY10. Maximum discount value of $50. Expires December 31st, 2023. See terms at etsy.com/terms. Let's get to a little bit of tennis, man. You know, the shot of the year. I know you remember it. You playing things in the doll.

• 28:41Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:41Ryan Clark?

  Right, and to me, man, it's like my play against Fred, who's one of the best I ever played against. Like I wasn't trying no tricks.

• 28:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:49Ryan Clark?

  You know what I mean? Like I wasn't trying to be cute. I was like, if he get the football, I'm gonna do my best to get him on the ground.

• 28:53Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 28:53Ryan Clark?

  I'mma hope he in a small space. You know, I'mma prepare, I'mma look at the tips and tendencies. You're playing Rafael Nadal, one of the greatest to ever play tennis. You know, he returns it and you go between the legs on him. What sort of thought process is that? And then when you hear afterwards, it's like, it's not the shot of the, it's not the shot of the match, it's the shot of the year.

• 29:11Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 29:11Ryan Clark?

  When you do something like that on that stage, how does that feel?

• 29:15Speaker 02

  It's just instinct. My game's never been orthodox. It's never been between the lines. And I've been criticized for that my whole career. I mean, I'm sure if I opened up Instagram today, there'd be someone. Giving me their idea of what, how I should play like, and that's just been the biggest denominator of my career. I've always played the shots that aren't necessarily high percentage or, and that doesn't mean I'm not locked in, like, I'm super focused, but that's just my game style. It's just, I just play and I'm free and I guess that's just a way that I can express myself differently to other players, because no one else will play those shots. But now, I mean, when I was that young, no one played those shots. It was like the first time anyone had seen them. But now you see all these young guys coming up and they're, you know, playing with a lot more flair and I think I've helped the sport in a way, you know, because tennis was pretty boring when I was growing up. And now you've got fans from all around the world watching.

• 30:00Speaker 02

  I tried to bridge the gap. I did a shoe collab with Kyrie. That was something that me, those shots, I think, played a part in having that opportunity to do things like that. So, I don't regret anything like that.

• 30:11Fred Taylor?

  When you get those opportunities, sometimes they can be a bit of a David versus a Goliath.

• 30:16Speaker 02

  Definitely, yeah, it's.

• 30:17Fred Taylor?

  Were there ever moments where you were intimidated, looking across like, man, I gotta, this is who I'm playing today?

• 30:23Speaker 02

  First time I played Nadal at Wimbledon, my coach actually told me that you're probably not going to win this match. Because I was only 18 and Nadal was number one in the world. He was ranked like, and then he was like, look, just go out there, give your best effort, just all that junk. Like, I was like, that's not, not what you want to hear from your coach. Like, probably not going to win this match. And I was like, like, when I walked out there, I was so nervous. I couldn't feel my legs, like, wasn't moving. And my serve is my best shot that I have. And then I missed my first serve, first point of the match, and I was like, shit. I don't want to play like a point. I don't want to rally with him because I'm just so nervous. So I just hit my second serve as hard as I could. And he completely jumped the wrong way. Like Nadal jumped the wrong way. And I was like, okay, that's weird. And then our next couple of points, and the next couple of games, I was like, holding my serve really easy. And

• 31:07Speaker 02

  I was like, shit, this guy doesn't really know where I'm going on my serve. And then I just got more confident and then ended up winning the match. And that match there made me believe.

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• 31:58Speaker 05

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• 32:14Speaker 02

  No matter who I'm playing, I have a chance. Because I was 18.

• 32:17Ryan Clark?

  When I hear things like that and you see how people talk about your skill.

• 32:21Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 32:22Ryan Clark?

  You know, they speak of you on a talent level differently than they speak of other great tennis players.

• 32:29Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 32:29Ryan Clark?

  Right? They talk about, you know, their work ethic and their focus. You know, I read things about Djokovic where he said, you know, I had to change my diet and do it. And you've done similar things to that.

• 32:38Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 32:38Ryan Clark?

  Take me through though, turning around, you know, to your mother and telling her that you didn't want to be here during a match and her asking you, well, can you just try?

• 32:48Speaker 02

  Yeah, I remember that. It was in Shanghai. I was on the road for six and a half months. And my mom came and she was with me in Tokyo the week before. And I'd won the tournament in Tokyo the week before. And we had a big discussion at the end of the week with my team. I was like, I don't really want to go to Shanghai next week. I'd rather just go home and take, you know, two months off and then refresh for the Australian period. And then we got to Shanghai, I won my first match. And the second match came and I was feeling, I was tired. Like, I was really tired and I was mentally a bit fragile. And I just wasn't as strong as I was now mentally. Like, looking back, I shouldn't have taken the court. Like, I should have just said, you know, let's just go home. We've had a great, successful season. Let's just wrap it up. Because in hindsight, that hurt me so much more than just the match itself. Like, I told my mom, I don't want to be here.

• 33:33Speaker 02

  Like, and she was like, just try, just try. And something that day, just when she said that, it was almost like I couldn't.

• 33:42Speaker 02

  I almost just wanted to go against what she said, just to prove that we made the wrong decision of being there.

• 33:47Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 33:47Speaker 02

  And that in hindsight hurt me so much more because the media picked up on it. It was like, reputation wise, I should have just listened to it. And you should listen to your parents all the time, but that hurt me so much more than just that match. But, look, I look back on that highlight and I was like, 21 years old, I was just an idiot.

• 34:03Channing Crowder?

  Because you said it, RC. You read anything, and all the people, even people you argue with, they're like, your skill level, your athleticism is off the charts.

• 34:09Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 34:10Channing Crowder?

  I think one of the most disrespectful things you can question an athlete is their work ethic.

• 34:14Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:14Channing Crowder?

  And their determination. And that is, that's something that you read about yourself. Does that piss you off? Or what, what's your answer to people that question your work ethic?

• 34:22Speaker 02

  Yeah, that, that, that pisses me off. And because I know how, I know how I am off the court. I don't take myself too seriously. I love to have a drink. I love to, you know, say, party or whatever. And then it makes people like, aren't athletes feel that what I do isn't so serious and they don't respect it as much. And people say, oh, you're not that disciplined. I'm like, you can't get to anywhere in a sport at the highest level without hours and hours, weeks, months, years of discipline. Like there was years with 17 to 20 where I wasn't, I didn't go to one party. I wasn't doing anything. Like I was trading five, six hours a day, not seeing my family, not seeing any friends. Like that foundational work was happening from when I was like 10 years old. So 10 to 20, I had 10 years where I didn't even have

• 35:05Speaker 02

  normal friendship groups because I was just putting everything into tennis. And that's what people don't understand. They only see the tip of the iceberg of where I am now. You know, it's like, oh, you must have a great life. It's like, it took so much time and so much diligently to get here. And it frustrates me because I try and explain it and they just don't get it. Like they just don't understand it. And yeah, it's disrespectful when someone comes to me and says, bro, like you, bro, how did you, like you have no discipline. I'm like,

• 35:32Speaker 02

  like I just, I just walk away now.

• 35:33Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 35:33Speaker 02

  Like I can't explain it.

• 35:34Channing Crowder?

  Like along those, along those lines, um, in football.

• 35:38Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 35:38Channing Crowder?

  What we call tanking is, so like this year Caleb Williams is going to be the number one.

• 35:43Ryan Clark?

  Quarterback in college.

• 35:45Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 35:45Ryan Clark?

  And we say a team will purposely play badly.

• 35:48Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 35:49Ryan Clark?

  In order to get the number one draft pick.

• 35:50Speaker 02

  Yep, like Wemba Yama for the Spurs last year.

• 35:52Ryan Clark?

  Yes, exactly.

• 35:54Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 35:55Ryan Clark?

  There you go.

• 35:55Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 35:56Ryan Clark?

  You know, you were accused of tanking a match.

• 36:00Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 36:00Ryan Clark?

  You know, I think to me, that's even a step further than saying someone doesn't have discipline or someone doesn't have work ethic. You know, I think that comes into the integrity of who a person is.

• 36:12Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 36:12Ryan Clark?

  You know, and then they also, when they talk about that match, they never ask, well, what was he going through?

• 36:18Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 36:19Ryan Clark?

  They never ask, well, what was he dealing with?

• 36:21Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 36:22Ryan Clark?

  At that time, you know, during that match, what were you dealing with that made it so hard to perform? Or did you say to yourself, maybe I am tanking?

• 36:32Speaker 02

  No, I think there's always a deeper issue. You know, I was, I'm never okay with just losing. Like, I'm very, like, even if I'm playing video games or anything, as soon as I get into that competitive mindset, I'm not okay with losing. It's more so, I feel like those times where I was, you know, not giving my best effort, it was just because I was, there was so much external noise in my head, where I couldn't focus on what I was doing, you know, whether it be something in my family, like my mom's health, or just being on the road for seven months and not feeling like myself, or just the external issues that I could never deal with inside here, that was just like, fuck, I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to be here right now, I don't want to, just because I'm a professional tennis player and all this stuff in my life isn't right,

• 37:17Speaker 02

  I should just go on the court right now and give my best effort. It's not possible. Like, I, I wasn't able to get the best out of myself for, for a couple of years because I was just so darkened, I was like, yeah, just so upset and like internally hurt. I just, sometimes it would be good, sometimes it would be bad, I couldn't control that. Like, that was the scariest thing, it was like. I don't know how I'd wake up. If I woke up good, I'd play alright. If I was sad and depressed, it was gonna be bad.

• 37:42Ryan Clark?

  You know, like for football, it's so different. You know, you work all week for three hours.

• 37:47Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 37:47Ryan Clark?

  For you, that tough gamut of being on the road, the different tournaments, the different matches, I guess that can weigh on you differently emotionally and mentally. How have you been able to build yourself up to where even though 2022 may not have been the most wins, but you get a guy like Djokovic stands up and he's like, man, it seems like everything's coming together for you.

• 38:11Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 38:12Ryan Clark?

  Right? And then things coming together, like, we know we're gonna have to deal with you. How did you get from that point where you said, I didn't know how I'd wake up, to a point in 2022 where you felt emotionally you were ready to take on what it takes to be the best you could be?

• 38:28Speaker 02

  The early stages of my career, I tried to... It bothered me that I was so misunderstood. Like, everyone thought I was like the crazy Nick that you thought I was gonna be when I got here. Like, everyone thought I was gonna be that. So I was trying to prove to everyone that I wasn't like that. And that was exhausting. One, it was exhausting, but there was one example. I won a tournament in Brisbane. And the week before, I was partying every night, drinking every night, doing drugs every night. And I won the tournament. And then the media was like, has Nick turned a corner? Is this the Nick that we're wanting? And it was the darkest I'd ever been. Like, it was horrific. But I won the tournament. And that's when I realized that the media, like, winning will solve things. But I knew that... I won a tournament, great, but that was the worst mentally I'd ever been.

• 39:10Speaker 02

  And it was like suicidal thoughts, it was self-harming. And I won a tournament. And it was like, everything was fine.

• 39:15Ryan Clark?

  Wow.

• 39:15Speaker 02

  And that's when I knew that last year, I knew that I had to do it. Like, when I was on the road, I never used to wanna do anything. Never used to wanna go for a walk, never used to wanna go see the best parts of the world. When last year, every time I was in a new place, my girlfriend would be like, let's do this. So we'd go do something fun. And I think I was just enjoying my life more. And then it translated to be like, alright, we're here, we're at Wimbledon. And, you know, I made the finals of Wimbledon. Only a couple hundred people of all time have ever made a final of a Grand Slam. And I never thought, from where I was, like... Because there was a time in Shanghai, I'd wake up at 3pm in a dark room. First thing I'd drink was alcohol and then I'd go out and play. And that's how bad it was. And I'd come back to the room, curtains closed, dark room. And then now I made finals Wimbledon last year. It was like night and day change.

• 39:58Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 39:59Speaker 02

  It's pretty crazy.

• 39:59Fred Taylor?

  When Naomi Osaka was going through her mental challenges and from the game and from life, were you able to sympathize with her? And what sort of message would you have shared with her then?

• 40:11Speaker 02

  Well, that was, you know, me and Naomi work a lot with each other now. We have a lot of business ventures together and, you know, we're super close. Her agent's my agent and she's an amazing person. And when, I wish that she'd kind of come out with all that stuff a bit earlier because when she came out with that and it was a big revelation for tennis and sport in general, athletes all around the world were supporting her because she pulled out of the French Open. And when she did that and then we spoke about it, that was exactly what I was going through for the first like five years of my career. But I didn't think that we could just pull out of a tournament. I didn't think that pulling out of the biggest Grand Slams in the world was an option. I thought, you know, we're here, we have to play. But she took the stand and was like, I'm not mentally prepared to do that. I'm just gonna take my time, take my rest and take my preparation and look after myself.

• 40:56Speaker 02

  When she did that, that was a big wake up call for me because then I started shortening my schedule. I started not playing when I didn't feel ready to play. And she really helped, like she helped me. So I can only imagine how many athletes she helped around the world globally for sure.

• 41:09Ryan Clark?

  Freddie T, man, what's happening?

• 41:11Fred Taylor?

  You know what's happening.

• 41:12Ryan Clark?

  You know, time to give a holler to our partners over at DraftKings. Any new customers signing up right now with the promo code PIVOT, you place a $5 bet, instantly get $150 in bonus bets. And hey, baby, you know what it is. You know, I'm on them same game parlays. You know, you make one bet, you add another bet, you get a bonus bet and it all come together in the same game parlay. Freddie T, tell them about them no sweat bets, Freddie T.

• 41:39Fred Taylor?

  I see you telling your inner Channing. Yeah, and the no sweat bets, y'all know all about that. Because Channing tells you about it every week. You put a bet in, if it don't hit, it'll come back around, you bet again. And if you're not in a place where DraftKings Sportsbook is, don't worry about it. Because we got DraftKings Daily Fantasy, still another way to get in the game and make some cash.

• 42:00Ryan Clark?

  And remember, get out your mobile devices. Any new customers signing up with the promo code PIVOT, you place a $5 bet and you instantly get $150 in bonus bets. Enjoy the show. One of the toughest times for many people was 2020.

• 42:14Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 42:15Ryan Clark?

  And you know, here you are, you're Nick Curios, you've played in all of these tournaments, you've become this star, and you're like back home at the crib with the parents.

• 42:24Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 42:24Ryan Clark?

  You know, and you started, and instead of just falling into yourself, like you started getting on Zoom calls with sick kids, and you were ordering food and delivering food. What was that year like for you, and what did it teach you about yourself?

• 42:37Speaker 02

  I think I needed that break because I was, 2019 was the worst year for me with my mental health. And then COVID hit, so it was like, okay, we were, I remember I was in L.A. actually, and there was like a one COVID case, and then I was like, I'm gonna fly out just in case, you know, things happen. And I got back home, and then the tennis tour stopped for like six months, and that was honestly the best period of my life for that six months, just to be home. I hadn't seen my family and my friends for more than two months in the last probably three years. So then just being home, feeling normal again, and then I could just see the struggle. So I was like, being a professional athlete, then being tied home and not doing anything, I was like, I need to do something, I need to, so then me and my team, best friend,

• 43:19Speaker 02

  we put together like boxes for people that, you know, couldn't go out and shop and have groceries. And so that was fun, like that was something that we just, that we just did as, as a pastime. Because that's just how my circle is, we just love doing things like that. We're not doing it for any media attention and stuff, we just want to sort of help out. And then, yeah, COVID was just, it was actually a really good time for me, it was eye-opening. Maybe missed the game a little bit, missed tennis a little bit, but then come back, I guess, fresh. And then just spending time with my family was a big one.

• 43:45Channing Crowder?

  You're talking about finding stuff to do. You got a gigantic tattoo of Pokemans on your back.

• 43:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:51Ryan Clark?

  Of who?

• 43:52Channing Crowder?

  Pokemans. He has nine or 10 Pokemans on his, them are plural Pokemons.

• 43:57Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 43:57Ryan Clark?

  So Pokemans is plural for Pokemons?

• 44:00Channing Crowder?

  On his back, and they says you play a game, I had to look this shit up, bro. You're one of the best tennis players in the world, and you running around a Circle K alley trying to catch a girl law?

• 44:11Speaker 02

  Oh, no, you, oh, you, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 44:13Channing Crowder?

  Pokeman, you know who you're about this?

• 44:15Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was, I was obsessed with that game, man. I was up till like 4:00 a.m. one year in Toronto trying to fucking play that game. I lost the next day, and someone had like taken a picture of me at nighttime, like spinning my phone, and I lost, I was fucked. And they're like, bro, this is like Nick Kyrgios lost, he's out at 4am chasing these stupid things around here. Woke up next to that, I was dead, bro. I couldn't, I couldn't open my eyes. Guy was serving aces, I was like, I'm done, bro.

• 44:39Ryan Clark?

  What, Pokemon?

• 44:40Speaker 02

  Yeah, bro, I just love gaming in general. Like Call of Duty, like Grand Theft Auto, Pokemon, League of Legends, like I just obsessed with gaming.

• 44:47Ryan Clark?

  You're better than that.

• 44:48Speaker 02

  Biggest gamer, yeah. I was, I grew up with my brother, he would game for six hours and he wouldn't let me play, I would just watch. He would just put me on the beanbag and make me watch. Like literally, I was like, can I play? He's like, no. And you would just sit there and watch. I would just sit there and watch. And then as soon as I got my hands on it, that was the end.

• 45:01Ryan Clark?

  So you know what helps me? I'm terrible at everything. I was terrible at Mike Tyson's Punch-Out, Madden. Only thing I could play probably was like NBA Jam, something you don't know about because you're too young.

• 45:12Speaker 02

  Yeah, NBA Jam was so good, man.

• 45:13Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, like other than that, bro, I couldn't do anything. So I never became a gamer because I was tired of getting my head bashed in. You know what I mean?

• 45:20Speaker 02

  What are you doing like, hey, you play like one go too?

• 45:22Ryan Clark?

  Aye, man. That's crazy.

• 45:25Channing Crowder?

  I better not let you see you chasing no Pikachu.

• 45:29Speaker 02

  Hey, but this game's good because you gotta be, you gotta walk around and stuff. So it's not like, you know, you gotta walk around.

• 45:33Channing Crowder?

  I'm chasing, I'm chasing, and it's some goofy ass names too. What's the names?

• 45:38Ryan Clark?

  Pikachu?

• 45:39Channing Crowder?

  Is Pikachu one?

• 45:40Speaker 02

  Charizard, that's all.

• 45:41Channing Crowder?

  Charizard, yeah. So I wanna leave this hotel to go chase Charizard around.

• 45:45Speaker 02

  You're not chasing him. You might go walk to a cafe, get a coffee and sit down, spin a couple. Try it out.

• 45:52Channing Crowder?

  You gonna play it too.

• 45:53Fred Taylor?

  I went to, uh, I had a big autograph show in Chicago before we did somebody in Vegas a couple of months ago. And they had all these trading cards and stuff like that. Braylon, my son Braylon, this is actually his game. I, uh, I bought him like these $500 Japanese version of Pokemon trading cards. Yeah, because if you save them, then they might be worth more. I spent a thousand dollars on cards.

• 46:20Channing Crowder?

  That's your ass is silly then.

• 46:23Fred Taylor?

  But when I got home and we pulled him, that's what they call it.

• 46:26Speaker 02

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 46:27Fred Taylor?

  So he has some real unique ones. I just put him in the safe for him.

• 46:30Channing Crowder?

  Y'all play Dungeons and Dragons too?

• 46:33Speaker 02

  Nah, nah, that's, that's, that's too much.

• 46:35Channing Crowder?

  Don't act crazy now. You play Pikachu Go and you can play Dungeons and Dragons too.

• 46:39Fred Taylor?

  Pikachu Go. He crazy, man.

• 46:41Ryan Clark?

  Look, man, like when you, like you seem light, bro, and I think like that's the thing that, that I've been feeling the entire time. Like even when you walked in, when you dapped everybody off, to, to be in that place now, what would you tell other people who may feel like they where you were? You know, they, you know, blinds drawn, first thing in the morning is a drink. Go out, put on this front for everybody else, play this, play this game at such a high level, and then go back and retreat to that sort of hole. What would you tell people who are in those dark places now about how to get to the other side?

• 47:20Speaker 02

  I just feel like no matter how good something's going, it can be taken away straight away. Like I know that it takes, for me to get to this position has taken years. And I know that one little thing, one little bad habit can, can unravel everything. So I know that when things are really good, like you can't be too high, and when things are really bad, you can't be too low. I feel like you gotta just ride the waves and just be quite equal all the time. Because nothing, it's never, like one thing that an old coach told me, it's never as good as it seems, it's never as bad as it seems. And ever since I heard that, it's just like, everything's just, you know, I'm doing all these, you know, amazing things, meeting you guys, being here. It's, it's awesome. And, you know, being in LA, you know, watching LeBron last night break the record and, you know, I'm just, I could get one text message saying that, oh, your mom's dealing with a health issue today.

• 48:06Speaker 02

  And that can just like change everything. So it's just like, you just try and be even keeled. And when I was in those moments, I just didn't even think like going for a walk outside was good. But it is. I lo-, I love going for a walk outside, getting a coffee now. It's like one of the things I look forward to. But in those times, I was like, I couldn't look forward to anything, because I was just, I thought my life was the worst. So you can't just be, can't be so up and down. That's the one thing I've learned. You just gotta be, you just gotta be even keeled the whole time.

• 48:31Fred Taylor?

  I think going for those walks are healthy.

• 48:33Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 48:34Fred Taylor?

  You know, much like meditation and, and reflection.

• 48:36Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 48:37Fred Taylor?

  Uh, reflecting on your career.

• 48:39Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 48:39Fred Taylor?

  Uh, going back, uh, looking at matches, significant moments. What moments were most impactful for you in your development as a player and as a person?

• 48:51Speaker 02

  There's only been two people ever to beat Nadal, Federer and Djokovic on their first try. So when I look at that stat, and sometimes when I walk out to a court and the announcer says like, Nick Kyrgios is the second man ever to do that, I get those three, beating those three were probably the biggest confidence boosters in my, in my life because, you know, growing up, I wasn't athletic at all. I wasn't athletically gifted, I don't think like from, like you look pictures, if you search, if you go on the internet right now and type in Nick Kyrgios Wu-Tang shirt, it's the funniest picture you've ever seen. It's hilarious. Like, I'm, I'm very overweight. And then if someone like that can, you gotta give it up.

• 49:28Speaker 02

  If you, you gotta put that picture somewhere in the podcast because if someone like that can eventually beat the greatest of all time, then it's actually possible to do anything. Anyone just has to have a bit of belief and you can do it. Because you, you wait till he sees the photo.

• 49:43Ryan Clark?

  Yeah. I couldn't type, I keep typing, typing Wit Tang.

• 49:46Channing Crowder?

  Wit Tang?

• 49:47Ryan Clark?

  Whoa!

• 49:48Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 49:49Channing Crowder?

  Bro, that's crazy.

• 49:50Ryan Clark?

  He was a heavy Chevy?

• 49:51Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 49:56Channing Crowder?

  No!

• 49:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 49:57Channing Crowder?

  Bro.

• 49:59Speaker 02

  Yeah. And it's just bad, like.

• 50:01Channing Crowder?

  That is crazy.

• 50:02Speaker 02

  Yeah. Someone like that can get to the top of the sport and beat, you know, Fed, like, I thought these guys were gods. When I was growing up, but.

• 50:09Ryan Clark?

  That young man blossomed like a swan.

• 50:11Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah.

• 50:12Ryan Clark?

  Sheesh!

• 50:13Speaker 02

  Yeah. How's your, how's your golf swing? Is there some correlation? I'm not good at golf. I'm good at putt putt. Hold up. My short game's all right, but I haven't really tried. I just can't, I'm like, I'm like Happy Gilmore, man. For real? Yeah. I thought most tennis players, there's some correlation. You gotta be able to close. Yeah, they're good.

• 50:30Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, you know, you see how he serves.

• 50:32Speaker 02

  But Happy Gilmore, you need patience, though.

• 50:35Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, because you serve like Happy Gilmore.

• 50:37Speaker 02

  Yeah, like, I actually have to do that little run up when I hit, when I drive. I can't drive at all. No? I can't drive. So you have to run up and? Yeah, I have to run up and hit it. Wow. Because it's mechanically, I can't stand still. Yeah, but the coordination in that, though. The swing's not bad, but my footwork, I can't stand still and hit it. I have to do that little run up. You know what you know.

• 50:54Channing Crowder?

  Short and tennis, you gotta, you gotta move your feet.

• 50:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, you know what you know, right?

• 50:58Ryan Clark?

  I go watch, I go watch now. Hey Shane, if he get up there and do that, they not gonna let you. You gotta run up, you gotta get your feet right.

• 51:03Speaker 02

  Happy feet, bro.

• 51:04Ryan Clark?

  Yeah. Happy feet. You have your own show starting, Good Trouble. In the States, for us, especially African Americans, that you think immediately about Congressman Lewis. John Lewis, who passed and he said, you know, we were getting into some good trouble. He was a civil rights activist. And starting this show, one, you have to have an openness and vulnerability to be yourself, which we've learned in doing this. What do you hope to show people through doing those shows, having the guests, and giving people an opportunity to know Nick Kyrgios more?

• 51:40Speaker 02

  Well, not just me, but all these guests, obviously Mike Tyson, I'm doing Gordon Ramsay, just people that have just stayed true to themselves and had so much hate, or, you know, people just judging them and they've just stayed true to themselves and they've got to the other side, you know, being a better person. I think there's success in that, you know, not just, you know, from a financial standpoint and that, but just getting through the other side, being yourself. It's like, it's like a weight off your shoulders, like I didn't have to change for anyone. But I'm super excited about it because it's like really intimate, it's one-on-one. And there's no, it's like, kinda like the tennis aspect of things, nowhere to hide. It's not like, you know, you're just talking one-on-one, you're gonna be vulnerable. And I've done Francis Tiafoe as well, he's like one of the best tennis players in the States at the moment.

• 52:22Speaker 02

  And he got really, this is the first time, like I've known him for like five to six years and he's never really opened up about his childhood and where, you know, I knew his dad was from Sierra Leone and had an incredibly hard upbringing, they were sleeping in janitors' closets. But this was the first time he really opened up about it. And I thought I was one of his closest friends. And then this episode, he opened up about it, and it was awesome. So it just gives people another side to everyone's journey and everyone's got some serious struggles.

• 52:48Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I think that's amazing, man. And we always do this before we let our guests go, we ask them about their biggest pivot. You know, just a moment in life that helped get you to where we are now. It could be a negative moment that you had to learn a lesson from. It can be something positive that motivated you. But if you can point to one thing or a couple of things that have helped shaped you and are main or major reason you're sitting here, what would that be?

• 53:17Speaker 02

  I'll give you one, like one negative moment and then one, I think, I'll start with the positive one. The positive moment was, I guess.

• 53:25Speaker 02

  When I mended my relationship with my family, because I fell out with my family for about a year and a half. You know, I wasn't speaking to them on a daily basis or weekly basis or anything. Just every now and then, not putting effort into any messages, not FaceTiming, not calling my mom or anything. And I think about what, like, I was such an idiot back then because the amount of stress I was causing on my family and, you know, going rogue and just doing things and making them worry. And then, when I mended that relationship, that was probably a big turning point because then we're all on the same page. They're like, okay, we know you're struggling. Now we can help you and support you. And that was a big one because I didn't feel alone anymore. I felt like, okay, my family's behind me. They want to see me succeed. And that was a big part of last year's success.

• 54:07Speaker 02

  Um, but a negative moment that kind of made me initially make that, you know, uh, transfer to try and be, uh, good again was at Wimbledon. I was, I came home at like nine AM from a night out and my dad, I was sleeping and I woke up, my dad was sitting next to me and he started crying. And he was saying like, I'm concerned about your health. Like, I don't want to see you doing this. Like, you can't be doing this. And he was, and my dad never cries. Like, we went to his dad's funeral, didn't shed a tear. He's always been the strong one in the family. And when he was breaking down in front of me there, that was a big moment for me personally. That was a tough moment, but then that was like, okay, I can't. That was a little wake up call. And then, three years later, here I am.

• 54:49Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, man, I think, you know, it's, and we say this a lot of times when we walk away from these conversations and we're like, he's so different or she's so different than what we thought. And we're like, so much better. Yeah, you know, and I think for, for us, man, you get the, the narratives that can be built around our worst moments. And those are the things people love to speak of. Those are the things that people point to, to try to say, this is all a person can be. And so for you, man, I think it's amazing that you now go for walks. I think it's amazing that you now share your story. But because there are so many people who are wearing a mask of success as they're killing themselves. And so, man, I just appreciate you, bro. The best of luck. I know the show is going to be amazing.

• 55:34Ryan Clark?

  Uh, I know the booth, though, had to make you miss tennis a little bit. And so, and so we, we can't wait, man, for you to heal up and be back out there doing your thing.

• 55:42Speaker 02

  Appreciate that, thank you.

• 55:42Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate you, brother.

• 55:43Speaker 02

  Thanks, guys, thank you. Thanks, guys.

• 55:44Ryan Clark?

  And I'm glad Volk didn't beat you up.

• 55:46Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 55:47Ryan Clark?

  He was, we were walking up. Bit of more than he could chew on that one. But first off, he just told him. That's the other thing, bro. Yeah, that's the other thing, you know what I mean?

• 55:53Speaker 02

  He's like a bowling ball.

• 55:58Speaker 02

  Thanks, bro, I appreciate you. Thank you.