"Coached myself to a Wimbledon final" - Cheeky Nick Kyrgios backs himself for ATP Coach Of The Year award

Nick Kyrgios has claimed that he should have been nominated in the coach of the year category for the 2022 ATP Awards, given how he coached himself to the final at Wimbledon this year.

The mercurial Aussie's statement came in response to one of tennis journalist Jose Morgado's tweets, in which he listed all the nominees for the 2022 ATP Awards.

"Tbh I should be in coach of the year, I coached myself to a Wimbledon final,"Nick Kyrgios tweeted.

Given the Aussie's penchant for incredulous comments, it is difficult to say if he said this tongue-in-cheek or meant it wholeheartedly.

Juan Carlos Ferrero (coach of Carlos Alcaraz), Frederic Fontang (Felix Auger-Aliassime), Goran Ivanisevic (Djokovic), Michael Russell (Taylor Fritz), and Christian Ruud (Casper Ruud) have all been nominated for the coaching category in this year's ATP Awards.

Some fans have criticized Carlos Moya's absence from the list, given he coached Rafael Nadal to two Majors in 2022.

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A breakdown of Nick Kyrgios' performance at Wimbledon this year

Novak Djokovic [left] and Nick Kyrgios with their respective trophies at Wimbledon 2022.

Nick Kyrgios entered this year's Wimbledon in high spirits given his desire to win a Slam and the fact that grass is, by far, his strongest surface. However, the unseeded 27-year-old had a wobbly start at the Championships this year, needing five sets and 30 aces to get past unseeded Brit Paul Jubb in the first round.

He improved drastically in the second round, taking down 26th seed Filip Krajinovic 6-2, 6-3, 6-1. The Aussie hammered a whopping 25 aces past the Serb, who struggled to get a read into the former's immaculate delivery that day.

After going past Krajinovic, the Aussie found himself face-to-face with Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round. Given that the Greek has historically struggled at Wimbledon, having progressed past the first round only twice on five occasions, not many saw him as the favorite.

However, Tsitsipas put up a tough fight against his opponent that day before ultimately falling 7-6(2), 4-6, 3-6, 6-7(7). Brandon Nakashima pushed Kyrgios to five sets in the fourth round but eventually succumbed to the 35 aces racked up by his opponent.

Cristian Garin proved no match for the 27-year-old in the quarterfinals before Rafael Nadal withdrew ahead of his semifinal clash against Kyrgios - thus handing the Aussie passage into his maiden Slam final, where Novak Djokovic awaited him.

Quite a few fans believed the Aussie had the weapons to threaten the mighty Serb in the summit clash, and he proved them right by pocketing the opening set. It took an extremely spirited counterattacking performance from Djokovic to eventually nullify Kyrgios, who gradually began to struggle to hit through the Serb's defenses.

The 21-time Major champion won 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6(3) but Kyrgios proved a point to his detractors during that fortnight by showing he can be consistent enough to make deep runs at Slams.

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