Marat Safin criticizes Nick Kyrgios: "He is no longer 18 years old"
Marat Safin has criticized Nick Kyrgios for his development. The Australian did not have much time left to exploit his potential, said the Russian.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit:
Dec 23, 2019, 07:32 pm
Marat Safin and Nick Kyrgios . Two guys who have shaped men's tennis in their own special way to this day. Both players were believed very early on and both the Russian and the Australian not only brought their fans to the brink of despair with outbursts of anger and listless appearances.
Big difference: Safin has won two Grand Slam titles in his career and worked his way up to the top of the world rankings, while Kyrgios - at least to date - has not yet been able to fully exploit his potential. At least that's how most of the tennis scene sees it. Marat Safin too.
Safin: "The years fly by"
"He has great potential, but for some reason he is not constant. For this reason, he is going up and down in the rankings," said the Russian, who stepped down in 2009 in an interview with the Guardian . "Time flies quickly. He is no longer 18 years old. The years just fly by and if he doesn't wake up now, he will look back at 35 and that will be it," continued Safin.
"I think he tries to hide his doubts by joking. He has to face the pressure and be a warrior, not an entertainer. I think he can be a great fighter. He has to take on the difficult moments and when he does that could make him have a great career, "said two-time Grand Slam winner Kyrgios, however, does not want to write it off completely.
Kyrgios with numerous missteps
Kyrgios is currently ranked 30th - too little in the opinion of many experts. In addition, the 24-year-old faces a lock of 16 weeks and $ 37,000 in the event of further missteps on and off the court. In 2019 Kyrgios was often noticed negatively .
But Safin also understands the Australian: "It is a sensitive issue if you hear three million times that you could be a top ten player. It is difficult to deal with this pressure, but that's life The idea is that you make fewer mistakes when you are older. " It will be interesting to see whether this will also apply to Nick Kyrgios.