Nick Kyrgios says perspective has helped him find balance on and off the court, saying he wants to be "better as a human" after rising up the rankings on Tuesday.
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Kyrgios returned to the world's top 20 for the first time in 18 months, jumping ahead of Alex de Minaur to be Australia's No.1 ranked player.
![Nick Kyrgios says he will continue donating money to fire-affected communities. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong Nick Kyrgios says he will continue donating money to fire-affected communities. Picture: Sitthixay Ditthavong](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc72lkp1qikdg4casfhjn.jpg/r2177_559_5472_2578_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The fiery Canberra star has divided fans almost since the day he broke on to the international stage, but public sentiment appeared to turn during his Australian Open campaign.
The 24-year-old was knocked out of the Australian Open by Rafael Nadal in the fourth round, but his leading role in raising money for fire-affected people and his grand slam effort won plenty of fans.
"Playing my tennis has never really been a problem, I just feel like I just have to sort a couple of things out off the court," Kyrgios said on Triple M.
"I guess the last couple of months is really, I've just gained a lot of perspective.
"It's all been a big experience, obviously, with everything going on, but I just want to continue to go on the right path.
"I've got a couple of tournaments in the next month, so I'm just going to try to be better every day.
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"I think if I get better as a human, I think the tennis will just follow, so I guess that showed in the Aussie summer."
Kyrgios, who is back in Canberra for a break between tournaments, has already raised more than $90,000 after pledging to donate $200 per ace for the Australian summer.
He said he would continue that pledge at his next tournaments in the comings months and said he was proud of the way the tennis community rallied to help.
"I feel like we've come together as a nation and come together to help something bigger than sport. The praise is nice, but I've got to keep continuing to do my aces when I'm on tour in the next couple of months. I'm not done," Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios started the year ranked 30th, but is now No.20 while de Minaur has slipped to No.25 after injury ruled him out of the Australian Open.
Asked if he thought he could compete with Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and legends Roger Federer and Nadal, Kyrgios said: "I feel like my level has been there for a while.
"... At the end of the day, sport is entertainment. I understand that people do want to see something a little controversy and something different.
"But I always want to play at a pretty good level, win a lot of titles and I want to go for it."