Despite his ‘bad boy’ attitude, Nick Kyrgios has always been a fairly popular character in the ATP locker room.
Kyrgios has had close relationships with some of the biggest names in the sport, most notably Andy Murray, even though he appears to have different opinions of the Briton these days.
After years of making it known that he was not the biggest fan of Novak Djokovic, the Australian ultimately became friends with his 2022 Wimbledon final conqueror as well.
On the flip side, there are a number of ATP stars that Kyrgios has never really seen eye-to-eye with, such as Stefanos Tsitsipas and Rafael Nadal.
However, there is one former player that he simply could not stomach, once admitting he drives him ‘nuts’.
Nick Kyrgios’s comments about Fernando Verdasco in 2019
In 2019, the Guardian reported that Kyrgios had made a number of comments about a handful of players, one of whom was former Spanish star Fernando Verdasco.
Kyrgios had played Verdasco twice on the ATP Tour and won both meetings, but he had nothing positive to say about him.
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“Verdasco drives me nuts, man,” said Kyrgios. “That guy … I don’t even want to talk about it.
“It gets me so vexed, I’m like angry now that I just heard that name. He’s the most arrogant person ever.
“He doesn’t say hello, he thinks he’s so good, he thinks he’s God’s gift. Dude, your backhand’s pretty average, and let’s be honest, you hit a ball over a net.
“Guys like that, they drive me insane. There’s no humility there, there’s no perspective. It’s just like, ‘I’m here, I’m so cool, I’m unbelievable because I hit a ball over the net. Do this for me, do this for me, I won’t say hello to you, I’m too important’.”
“Guys like that. See how angry I’m getting? It kills me. He just rubs me the wrong way.”
Nick Kyrgios’ criticism of Novak Djokovic
At that time, Kyrgios was not close with Djokovic yet and claimed that the 24-time Grand Slam winner ‘just wanted to be liked’.
“I just feel like he has a sick obsession with wanting to be liked. He just wants to be like Roger Federer.
“For me personally, I don’t care right now, I’ve come this far. I feel like he just wants to be liked so much that I just can’t stand him.
“This whole celebration thing (blowing kisses to the crowd) that he does after matches, it’s like so cringeworthy. It’s very cringeworthy.
“He’s an unbelievable player, he’s a champion of the sport; one of the greatest we’ll ever see. He probably will, honestly, I reckon he will get the grand slam count, I reckon he will overpass Federer.
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“[But] we’re talking about a guy who pulled out of the Australian Open one year because it was too hot. No matter how many grand slams he wins, he will never be the greatest for me.”
Djokovic went on to surpass the Grand Slam tallies of both Nadal and Roger Federer, and now holds the all-time record.
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