NICK KYRGIOS He has not played on the circuit for almost a year, but from time to time he manages to come out with some bombastic statement and generate controversy. Days ago he had no reservations about criticizing Novak Djokovic, who walked without a mask in the VIP bubble of Adelaide. He called it “stupid”, without any problem. Clear, the world’s number one remains privileged along with other top players while in Melbourne, in the massive quarantine, there are more than 70 players and coaches in strict quarantine prior to the Australian Open dispute -starts February 8-.
But for Kyrgios it was not enough. This Saturday he went even further and questioned the status of Djokovic as the main contender for the throne in the fight for the best tennis player of all time. The Serbian accumulates 17 Grand Slam titles and is getting closer to the absolute record among men, in the hands of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, who have 20. Faced with the latent possibility that the number one could add one more trophy in Australia, his favorite tournament – maximum champion with eight titles between 2008 and 2020 -, the talented Australian came out to the crossing: “There is no problem with how many Grand Slam Djokovic wins. He will never be the greatest for me. I have played him twice and if he cannot beat me, he will never be the greatest of all time.”
Kyrgios fired hard as he has on other occasions against Nadal, for example; this time he referred to the duels with Djokovic, who could never really beat him to date: the Australian, former 13th in the world and current 47th, won both times they played in Acapulco and Indian Wells, both in 2017. What’s more: the Serbian was never able to snatch even one set. It is clear that Kyrgios has already started to heat up a possible confrontation with number one in Australia …
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