Who is Christos Kyrgios? Nick Kyrgios's brother opens up about their troubled relationship
Aussie tennis sensation Nick Kyrgios is set to face top seed Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final on Sunday night, July 11. His brother Christos Kyrgios has opened up about the difficult hurdles he faced on the road to reaching the sport's pinnacle that had his family "worried sick."
Christos said the brothers became recently estranged after he admittedly "overstepped the mark" while trying to guide Nick as the latter was "trying to drink his way out of his depression." The concerned brother penned a column to give a glimpse into the rollercoaster ride that came with supporting the tennis superstar, ahead of his hotly-anticipated match on Sunday to crown the current king of grass.
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Who is Christos Kyrgios?
Christos is a trainer and fitness coach who works for Ally’s Angels & Alphas, an organization that specializes in training for WBFF pro competitions. Christos completed his university studies with degrees in law and commerce before entering the business world. He has previously also served as an investment advisor and legal policy advisor for the Australian parliament. Christos is an acclaimed trainer in his own accord but also benefits from the notoriety of his younger tennis sensation brother Nick.
"People wouldn’t know this but Nick and I stopped talking for quite a while. He was so unhappy in himself that he shut out the people that had his best interests at heart," Christos wrote in a column for Fairfax. "I’m far from perfect, but as a big brother, it killed me seeing him go through the pain he was suffering. Mum was worried sick about him. We all were. He was caught between trying to be someone everyone said he was and being the person he wanted to be."
Nick has grabbed headlines for his antics both on and off the court during Wimbledon. His third-round opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas labeled him an "evil bully," while fellow Aussie legend Pat Cash called him a "cheat." However, it's also worth noting that Nick has served the most aces in the tournament, recorded the second-fastest serve, and is on his way to a Grand Slam final.
According to Christos, however, the journey to reach the final was anything but easy, especially as Nick was dealing with his inner demons. "The world changed him. Tennis changed him ... he was a prisoner in his own body, going through the motions without any sense of happiness in the life he’d worked so hard to make for himself," he wrote. "I’d come over to visit Mum and Dad’s and Nick wouldn’t get out of bed before midday."
Christos confronted his brother at one point, and the incident led to the pair being estranged for a period. However, he says he's proud of the "transformation" his brother has gone through since, thanks to the help of his fiancee Costeen Hatzi. Nick himself recently opened up about the ordeal he went through. ''It was very serious, to the point of self-harm and it's not okay," he told WWOS. "I guess I pushed everyone that cared about me away and I wasn't communicating, and I just shut down real life and I was trying to handle and tackle my problems head-on. I was abusing alcohol a lot, drugs, and that spiraled out of control." He added, "Now I barely drink – I literally have a glass of wine at dinner. That was the initial kind of thing I had to clean up a little bit and then build my relationship back with my family and get into healthier habits like the basics; like diet, getting good sleep, trying to train a little bit more and that was it."
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Taking to Instagram on Sunday morning, Christos posted an inspirational quote to his followers with a photo of himself, Nick, and their two dogs. "Your ability to focus gives you the power to do anything you want with your life. Don’t allow distractions and negativity to get in your way. As soon as you focus on the right questions, you’ll start getting all the right answers," he wrote in the caption.
That said, Christos wasn't able to make it to Wimbledon to watch his brother after welcoming his first child with girlfriend Alicia Gowans in June, named George Onyx Kyrgios.