‘Novak Djokovic would eat Sampras alive, Lleyton Hewitt made him look like sh*t’ – Nick Kyrgios’
Nick Kyrgios is never one to mince his words and he believes tennis greats from yesteryear, including Pete Sampras and Boris Becker, would not stand a chance against a modern legend like Novak Djokovic.
One of the most fascinating debates in just about any sport is how the greats from the past would stack up against the players who are currently dominating their particular sport.
In the tennis world, it is a case of how would the likes of Sampras, Becker, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe or Jimmy Connors fare against the Big Three of Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer?
According to Kyrgios, there would be only one winner as he used 14-time Grand Slam winner Sampras’ 2001 US Open final defeat to Lleyton Hewitt as an example of why – in his opinion – the older generation would struggle against today’s stars.
“The game was slow back then. I watched Boris Becker and I am not saying they were not good in their time, but to say they would be just as good is absurd,” he told The Athletic.
“A big serve back then was like 197 to 200 (km per hour — about 122mph). People like me, we serve 220 consistently, to corners. It’s a whole different ball game.”
The Australian added: “I’m not saying they wouldn’t have found their way. But serve and volley, to do it all the time now, you need to be serving 220, because if you serve anything less than 220, bro, Djokovic eats you alive.
“He eats you alive. Bro, Lleyton Hewitt destroyed Sampras one year at the US Open. That was the first prototype of someone who could return serve.
“He made Sampras look like sh*t. And what would Djokovic do to someone like Sampras? It would be a cleanup. If Hewitt was doing it, Djokovic would destroy him. He would eat him alive.”
Of course, what Kyrgios neglects to add is that Sampras was at the end of his career in 2001 as he played his last professional match the following year at the US Open.
Meanwhile, the 20-year-old Hewitt had just hit his peak as the US Open was his maiden Grand Slam. The Australian went on to win more major, Wimbledon in 2002.
Technology, fitness regimes, player diets and just about everything else have also improved over the past two decades.
READ MORE: Nick Kyrgios reveals Ben Shelton dream – ‘Serve is a rocket, reminds me of…’
In the interview with Matthew Futterman, Kyrgios also talked about getting more respected in the United States than back home in Australia.
“I feel more respected here [US],” he said.
He added that Australians “don’t expect athletes to do anything else but play their sport, which is really weird. I definitely see myself coming back at some stage and playing at a high level again. But because of how intense last year was for me, this was a year to just balance it out”.
