Nick Kyrgios made a hilarious joke about his younger self after posting a throwback photo to celebrate reaching the Wimbledon final. The world No 40 will face six-time champion Novak Djokovic in what is his maiden Grand Slam final on Sunday and shared his hope of serving as an inspiration after claiming he wasn’t “supposed to be” a pro fighting for a Major title, comparing himself to the character of Manny Delgado from TV series Modern Family.
Kyrgios advanced to the Wimbledon final following the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal, who pulled out on the eve of their semi-final with an abdominal tear. The Australian had already broken new ground by advancing to the last four and will now compete for a maiden Grand Slam trophy.
After booking his spot in the final at the expense of the Spaniard, the 27-year-old shared a throwback childhood photo on his Instagram account, showing himself as a young boy in Canberra holding a tennis racket. “Wimbledon finals,” he wrote in the caption, adding a laughing-crying emoji.
And Kyrgios has now made a dig at his younger self as he explained what the boy in the photo was like. The former world No 13 said he looked “like Manny from Modern Family” as he joked that he was a “hungry” child. Asked what he was like as a kid, he laughed: “Hungry. I was hungry.”
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The six-time title winner admitted he shouldn’t have been able to get to where he is today as he shared his hope to inspire others as he continued: “Yeah, I think it’s just hilarious because, like, I don’t think I’m supposed to be someone like me. Like, I look at that photo, I grew up in Canberra, the courts I trained on were horrible, and now I’m in the chance to play the Wimbledon final.
“I think it’s honestly an inspiration for any sort of kid who’s kind of been outcasted or just been surrounded by negative headlines or negative just clouds or trying to be, like, just being brought down from a lot of different angles.”
And Kyrgios said he had never given up hope despite his previous admission that he thought his “ship had sailed” to get this far in a Major. “I feel like it’s possible, it’s still possible to achieve something quite special if you just believe in yourself. I never really lost belief in myself,” he added.
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