Nick Kyrgios is undoubtedly one of the most gifted tennis players of his generation, but a mix of injury and ambiguity has scuppered a once-promising career.
Now seeking a comeback after a sustained period out of the game, it will be interesting to see where he lands in a sport that has changed vastly since he was last a consistent force on the tour.
Crucially, since his injury problems began nearly two years ago, we have seen another of the iconic ‘Big Three’ depart as Rafael Nadal retired from tennis, joining Roger Federer and leaving Novak Djokovic as the last man standing.
Kyrgios has now spoken about this legendary trio as he nears full fitness once again.
Nick Kyrgios on Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
Unsurprisingly, he started by talking about Djokovic, and even more unsurprisingly, they remain good friends. He told The Changeover podcast: ’I guess with me and Novak when I defended him a bit during that COVID time, especially in front of my country. I guess that gained his respect. It was like nobody was stepping up for him and I just felt the way we were treating him was s—-. I was like I don’t like it.
‘I don’t think we should treat someone like this, like this. So I stood up for him and we played each other at Wimbledon and had a big friendship, then played doubles together. It’s been good. We have a good friendship.’
He then moved on to the more complicated relationships he shares with Roger and Rafael Nadal: ’Me and Roger have been fine. But me and Rafa don’t like each other at all. We respect each other’s games but I just think two different personalities and two completely different stories. We just don’t like each other. Every time we played each other I wanted to f—— throw my racket at him.
‘I just can’t stand him. He does my head in. But he is a good player. I just wanted to beat him so bad every time. Sometimes when I lost to Fed I was like whatever, too good. But Rafa it would burn me so much.
‘We don’t have tension me and Feds. He’s not very intimidating up front and I am a lot bigger than him, so he’s just like a nice guy. He’s very gentle. But Rafa – I think because my coaches loved Rafa in my academy, they were like you need to work as hard as Rafa, you have to have the heart, it was always Rafa, Rafa, Rafa.’
When is Nick Kyrgios’ next tennis match?
There’s no denying that the first time people started to take note of Kyrgios was when he defeated Nadal in 2014, dumping out the then world number one from Wimbledon.
Since then, his career has been a topsy-turvy one, littered with controversies and unpredictability.
However, one thing that became startling was his ability to trouble the Big Three in a way that few others in history ever could. He is one of just three players to beat the trio on his first time playing against them, and actually boasts a winning record against Djokovic.
It is this precocious talent that has led many to pine for his return, which has now been confirmed.
The Australian will use his protected ranking to play a first singles tournament since Miami in Stuttgart, but not before Roland Garros. Kyrgios confirmed he will play the French Open, but only the doubles.
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