Kyrgios takes positives from ban as he targets top 10

The Austarlian player's 2016 campaign ended in controversial circumstances as he was banned for eight tournament weeks and fined USD25,000 for appearing to throw in the towel in a Shanghai Masters loss to Mischa Zverev in October.

Published : Dec 12, 2016 19:47 IST , Sydney

"The ATP wanted me to see a psychologist to help me out and I've been doing that," Nick Kyrgios said.
"The ATP wanted me to see a psychologist to help me out and I've been doing that," Nick Kyrgios said.
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"The ATP wanted me to see a psychologist to help me out and I've been doing that," Nick Kyrgios said.

Nick Kyrgios believes his suspension by the ATP could be to his benefit as he bids to build on a 2016 season that saw him rise to a career-high ranking. Kyrgios' campaign ended in controversial circumstances as he was banned for eight tournament weeks and fined USD25,000 for appearing to throw in the towel in a Shanghai Masters loss to Mischa Zverev in October.

The governing body ruled the Australian had been guilty of "conduct contrary to the integrity of the game", though the ban was reduced to three weeks after Kyrgios agreed to see a sports psychologist. "The ATP wanted me to see a psychologist to help me out and I've been doing that," Kyrgios told Fox Sports after winning the International Premier League Tennis League title with the Singapore Slammers on Sunday.

"It's actually been good, just relaxing a little bit, spending more time with my family and my girlfriend as well. So the suspension, one way to look at it, is getting more time off with the people you love and I've been training as well, so it's set me up in good stead for 2017.

"Obviously I wouldn't have wanted to get suspended but it gave me time to think about and analyse what I've got to get better at," he said

Kyrgios claimed three ATP titles in 2016, a year that also saw the world number 13 hammered by Andy Murray at Wimbledon in a performance he described as "pretty pathetic" and miss the Olympic Games in Rio following a spat with the Australian Olympic Committee.

"It's been a rollercoaster, we had a lot of highs, a lot of lows," Kyrgios added. "But ultimately, my ranking jumped from about 30 to 13, so that's a successful year. I've got a couple of guys in my team who hopefully can help me push for that top-10 spot next year.

"It was a fun year. I did a lot of fun things. I got Australia back in the world group of the Davis Cup, won a couple of titles, so it's been a good year so hopefully I can back it up in 2017."

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