What Nick Kyrgios said about Novak Djokovic years ago that he now completely disagrees with

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Nick Kyrgios may not exactly be welcomed back to tennis with open arms by everyone, but perhaps we won’t care.

Kyrgios is using his protected ranking for the Australian Open, with the controversial figure set to play at the Brisbane International to prepare.

He has been out of action for some time with various injury issues, with Kyrgios last playing at the 2023 Stuttgart Open.

Kyrgios loves playing at the US Open, but first up in 2025 for the 2022 Wimbledon finalist will be a home Grand Slam.

During his time away from the court, the Australian has been heavily involved in media duties, while he has also managed to repair his once-strained relationship with Novak Djokovic.

When Nick Kyrgios said Andy Murray was better than Novak Djokovic

The pair didn’t always see eye-to-eye, which could be part of the reason why Kyrgios opted to rate Andy Murray ahead of Djokovic during an Instagram Live talk with the Scot in May 2020.

“You’re too good,” Kyrgios told Murray. “I’ve already told you… I think you should have one of the best careers ever. I’ve said that to you many times.

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“I’m not going to make this controversial, but I honestly think you’re better than Djokovic. People are going to take to social media and say ‘nah, Djokovic won this many Slams’.

“But Djokovic was playing dodgeball with my serve, he couldn’t return it and you’re on it and like, ‘I’m slapping it for a winner’.”

Nick Kyrgios calls Novak Djokovic the greatest of all time at 2024 Australian Open

Whether Kyrgios remembered those comments when undertaking his media duties at this year’s Australian Open is up for debate, with the former world number 13 massively changing his tune about Djokovic.

Commentating on the Serbian’s third round meeting with Tomas Martin Etcheverry in January, Kyrgios stated: “I mean 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.

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“Without Roger, would there have been a Novak, a [Rafael] Nadal, someone to chase? But statistics, 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.”

Grand Slam titles do not mean everything in the greatest of all time debate, but they certainly help, with Djokovic leading the way with 24, followed by Nadal (22) and Federer (20), with Murray retiring in August with three.