Nick Kyrgios says Roger Federer will always outshine Novak Djokovic in one key area
Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic have developed the most unlikely of romances in the last couple of years and now their friendship has become a big hit on Instagram.
Aussie maverick Kyrgios didn’t try to hide his dislike of the world No 1 for the early phase of this story, but their relationship thawed in 2022 after Djokovic was deported from Australia over his stance on Covid vaccines.
Djokovic thanked Kyrgios publicly for his support during that period and since then, the pair have struck up a friendship.
“We had a rocky relationship at the start and there were a couple of things changed,” Kyrgios told Eurosport.
“Now we literally speak every day with him I’ve had some crazy messages.
“We send memes to each other. He hit an unbelievable volley the other day and I said to him where did you get these hands from? You didn’t have them against me at Wimbledon. Then he responded; oh I got them from you!”
Now this unlikely duo have appeared on TV together, as with Kyrgios offering to solve Djokovic’s problem with an unruly spectator in a typically robust manner.
Djokovic clashed with a fan during his match against Alexei Popyrin on Tuesday, as he invited his hecker to come on court and express his concerns in a more open manner.
“Of course, it annoys you, but you have to accept it and go with it. What really frustrates me is when somebody is heckling, so I confronted the hecklers as I did,” said Djokovic.
“I invited a guy to come and tell it to my face, whatever he was saying. He was saying a lot of nice things. He was apologising from far away, and all of a sudden there was an absence of courage, when he needed to face me.”
Kyrgios already suggested he would go into the crowd and remove the spectator during his commentary stint on the match and now he has told Djokovic he will do just that if there is a repeat.
“Let’s go WWE with the crowd, I’ll jump in for you and get that guy out for you,” said Kyrgios.
READ MORE: ‘Ridiculousness!’ – Nick Kyrgios berates umpire for giving Novak Djokovic a code violation
Djokovic responded by suggesting he would get his popcorn out to watch that and then offered to form what would be a must-watch dream team on court with 2022 Australian Open doubles champion Kyrgios.
The compelling nature of Kyrgios in his commentary role suggests he has a big future in that world if he opts to walk away from his playing career, with his eagerness to answer all the pressing questions evident from his appearances on Eurosport and discovery+ during the Australian Open.
Inevitably, the debate over who is the greatest player of all-time was raised and while he insists Djokovic holds all the aces in that debate, he made his point about the great Roger Federer.
“The greatest of all time is definitely Novak, but that doesn’t mean – if I said who would I want to go out there and want to watch, Roger Federer is the nicest to watch, he’s the most talented, makes the game look effortless, like the Michael Jordan of tennis,” he stated.
“Without Roger would there have been a Novak, a (Rafael) Nadal, someone to chase but statistics you know, it’s hard to have a conversation any more.
“He’s the most complete player, on all surfaces as well, because Nadal is dominant on one surface whereas Novak has had that pretty much everywhere.
“Just the ability to redirect I think is so underrated. That’s one thing I felt playing him, he could just change direction on anything I hit and when you put it to him it’s high percentage, it’s crazy.”
We are going to be hearing a lot more from Nick Kyrgios, even if he is likely to be making his noise away from the tennis court from now on.
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