The power of love.
Nick Kygios hasn’t played the French Open since 2017 — last year he dubbed the tournament the worst of tennis’ four Grand Slams and called for its removal from the schedule. But that will change next year with the 27-year-old returning to Roland Garros because his girlfriend, Costeen Hatzi, wants to visit the City of Love.
“Yes, I’m playing the French Open, my girlfriend wants to see Paris, so why not?” Kyrgios said at at the Diriyah Tennis Cup in Saudi Arabia. “Pick up some more money [in Paris] … Usually at that time of year, I like spending time at home.”
The mercurial star has never advanced past the the third round in five previous appearances at the French Open.
Kyrgios is also coming off the best season of his career. He opened the year by winning the doubles title at the Australian Open and in July reached the Wimbledon final before falling to Novak Djokovic. He followed that by taking the singles and doubles titles at the Citi Open in Washington D.C.
A month later, Kyrgios reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open for the first time, but the combustible Aussie exploded with an epic racket-smashing tantrum after being upset by Russia’s Karen Khachanov.
The last time Kyrgios played at Roland Garros, he was beaten by Kevin Anderson in a second-round stunner. Still, he likes his chances going into next year’s tournament.
“I’ve played well on clay,” he said. “I’ve beaten [Roger] Federer, [Stan] Wawrinka, I’ve played a final on clay [at Estoril in 2015].”
In April, Kyrgios won his first match on clay since 2019 when he beat Mackenzie McDonald in Houston. But it doesn’t sound like he’s a fan of playing on the dirt, even with the influence of Hatzi, whom he said earlier this year he planned to marry soon after revealing a tattoo of her name.
“There’s too many events on clay, I’ve said this over and over again,” Kyrgios said. “There are players in the top 100 who I don’t even know their faces or their names, and they’ve only played on clay.
“It’s crazy.”
This story originally appeared on NYPost
