Australia’s Nick Kyrgios has slammed the behaviour of both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in a freeloading interview with prominent journalist Ben Rothenberg.
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Kyrgios, a supremely talented but extremely controversial tennis star himself, has called out the world’s top two ranked players for their behaviour in the No Challenges Remaining podcast, hosted by Rothenberg.
The Aussie’s relationship with Nadal hasn’t been the very best, and was exposed even further during the Acapulco Open when the Spaniard lost to Kyrgios in three sets. Nadal complained of Kyrgios showing no respect to his opponents in a post-match press conference following the Aussie having an issue with Nadal being slow between points.
Speaking on the podcast, Kyrgios said Nadal was diametrically opposite to the Aussie but more vitally called him “super salty”.
Kyrgios added:
“When he wins, it’s fine. He won’t say anything bad, he’ll credit the opponent, ‘He was a great player’. But as soon as I beat him, it’s just like, ‘He has no respect for me, my fans and no respect to the game’. And I’m like, ‘What are you talking about? I literally played this way when I beat you the other previous times and nothing changed, nothing changed’.”
The Aussie also spoke about Nadal’s uncle who had also opined after this controversial match that Kyrgios lacked education. Kyrgios retorted:
“I’m like, ‘Bra, I did 12 years at school, you idiot. I’m very educated. I understand that you’re upset I beat your family again’. Rafa gets me vexed.”
Done with Nadal, Kyrgios went after the top-ranked Djokovic, speaking of his obsession to be liked by everyone. He went on to add that Djokovic’s obsession has reached levels that makes him difficult to stand the Serb.
Kyrgios also complained about the Djokovic celebration, calling it cringe-worthy.
He added:
“The celebration just kills me. Every time he does the celebration it just kills me. Honestly, that’s what I’m doing next time: if I play him and beat him, I’m doing his celebration, in front of him. That would be hilarious, right?”
And while Kyrgios admitted that Djokovic was a champion tennis player, he wasn’t the greatest ever even if he went on to win as many Grand Slams as Roger Federer has.
His reason? Djokovic has been unable to beat the Aussie on both occasions he’s played him!
Kyrgios said:
“Simply because, I’ve played him twice (Kyrgios has won both times) and like, I’m sorry, but if you can’t beat me, you’re not the greatest of all time. Because if you like look at my day-to-day routine and how much I train and how much I put in, it’s zero compared to him.”
Kyrgios is currently playing at the Rome Masters and will take on Norway’s Casper Ruud with a potential quarter-final against Djokovic in the offing.
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