'Too far gone': Nick Kyrgios' sad admission stuns tennis world

Nick Kyrgios believes tennis coaches are overpaid and that his career is “too far gone” for him to ever appoint another one anyway.

Kyrgios has spurned approaches from a raft of big names keen on helping the sport's most enigmatic talent fulfil his potential but says he's he too selfish and set in his ways to employ a full-time mentor.

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“Personally, I think (hiring a coach) is a little bit of a waste of money 'cause I think they get paid way too much,” Kyrgios told his friend Elliot Loney during a candid 45-minute podcast.

“And, for me, I don't have a goal of winning grand slams. I just want to do it my way, have fun with it and just play.

“So to get a coach for me is pointless because I don't want to waste their time almost.

“I just don't think a coach is ready - and I'm not going to put them through it too 'cause it would just be a nightmare.

“Where I'm at my career now, it's just too far gone, I think for a coach, 'cause I'm too set in my ways and I just don't like to listen to advice, to be honest.”

Kyrgios concedes he’ll never win a slam

A notoriously poor trainer, Kyrgios has reached two grand slam quarter-finals, a career-high world No.13 and holds the rare distinction of having conquered each of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic when they first met.

But he doubts he'll ever win a slam.

“I don't believe my body will hold up for seven matches at a grand slam, potentially playing three to four hours (each match),” he said.

Not that he harbours any regrets, the 25-year-old insisting wins and losses won't define his career.

“If I could, I'd just be on the beers every time I play - afterwards. I just want to chill out. I just think the sport's taken a bit too seriously,” Kyrgios said.

The Canberran is content to have defied the doubters, having been told as a teenager that he was too fat to ever forge a successful pro career.

“There were a lot of people who had their two cents about what I had to do to make it, so to speak, and yeah those comments were hurtful at times,” Kyrgios said.

“I was only a kid. I just wanted to play, go compete, and you've got coaches and teachers saying to a 14, 15-year-old kid 'you need to lose weight, otherwise you're not going to be good'.

“It was pretty tough to handle back then ... I just wanted to prove a lot of people wrong.

“I wanted to go out there, like a fat kid from Canberra who was decent at ball striking (to show I) could literally take it to some of the best in the world.”

Renowned coach Brad Gilbert was among many stunned by Kyrgios’ comments.

With Yahoo Sports staff