"I found myself going to a psychiatric ward in London and I had to play Rafael Nadal the next day" - Nick Kyrgios

Tennis' wild child Nick Kyrgios recently appeared on the 'Jay Shetty Podcast', where the Aussie detailed his uphill battle with mental health issues ahead of his blockbuster second-round clash against Rafael Nadal at the 2019 Wimbledon Championships.

Nick Kyrgios has become one of the most controversial figures in tennis since turning pro in 2013. Over the years, the 28-year-old has received plenty of criticism from the tennis universe, owing to his fleeting professionalism.

Many fans, however, didn't know the details of his mental health troubles. While recently speaking with famous life coach Jay Shetty, Kyrgios confessed that he was mentally in a bad place in 2019.

Shetty began the conversation by alluding to Nick Kyrgios' troubles with drug and alcohol abuse that was depicted in Netflix's 'Break Point' series. He then asked the Aussie to give him a rundown of how difficult his 2019 season was.

In his response, the Aussie made a rather shocking revelation. He disclosed that he even went to a psychiatric ward before facing off against Rafael Nadal in the second round at SW19 that year.

"It was just self-inflicted pain. And I had friends around me telling me it wasn't healthy, and I ignored them. And then I found myself going to a psychiatric ward in London and I had to play Nadal the next day," the Aussie said (8:48) "And these are the things like everyone would assume that I was doing fine. I was answering questions, and they told me that I should stay in this psychiatric ward for two weeks and be reassessed."

Kyrgios also confessed that he would inflict self-harm regularly during that phase of his life.

"It's like, I looked at myself. I was like, I can't do this. I have to somehow change these habits. So I had self-harm everywhere. I had to wear an arm sleeve on the center court of Wimbledon, and no one knew any of these problems," he added. (9:28) "And it was, it was hard. And I look back, and I just don't know how I got out of it, to be honest; I was such a mess."

Rafael Nadal beat Nick Kyrgios in a high-quality encounter at Wimbledon 2019

Nick Kyrgios (L) and Rafael Nadal greet each other after their Wimbledon 2019 clash

Nick Kyrgios, meanwhile, gave Rafael Nadal some stiff resistance during their Wimbledon 2019 encounter despite his mental health issues.

Kyrgios dropped the opening set 3-6 to the Spaniard with relative ease. The Aussie refused to go down quietly, though, as he steadied the ship by taking the second set 6-3.

Both players then held serve throughout the third set, before the Spaniard took the tiebreaker 7-5. The penultimate set followed in a similar vein as Nadal dominated on his serve to take the match 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(3).