Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios thanked Andy Murray for helping him with his mental health struggles as the Aussie revealed that the Brit noticed evidence of self-harm by the 28-year-old during his tour years ago.
Kyrgios, 28, has always been open about his mental health struggles and in a recent interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Talk TV, he revealed how Murray helped him during his tough times.
"Andy was always a big supporter of me," Kyrgios said. "As soon as I came on the tour, he kind of saw a work in progress and took me under his wing.
"Then he realised later in my career that I don't think I was coachable or I was on my own path, but he was always someone that was looking out for me.
"He saw it [the self-harm] and he said, 'What's that on your arm?' It was pretty bad at that stage. Andy obviously was trying to give me advice on it. But I was just so stuck in my ways at that time that I didn't listen. Obviously, I'm very thankful. I thank him a lot."
According to a report in The Times, Murray then alerted Kyrgios' manager John Morris to what he had seen.
"I think it was all a year-and-a-half to two years of just complete harm. It was pretty dark, to be honest. I hated myself. I hated waking up and being Nick Kyrgios," the Australian added.
Kyrgios fought his mental struggles and made a fantastic comeback as he reached the 2022 Wimbledon final where he lost to Novak Djokovic.
"I feel like I've helped so many people after I opened up about it and put it on social media.
"I've almost been a beacon for people who are struggling. When they feel like they're overwhelmed and they're going towards drinking, drugs and stuff, they open up and they feel like I'm relatable.
"That's been the most powerful thing in my career; people coming to me with genuine issues.
"They send me photos on my Instagram, direct messages, self-harming and genuinely wanting to commit suicide.
"I have conversations with these people. Sometimes I've had phone calls with these people. That's making a real difference and I'm just really proud."
