Nick Kyrgios leans towards Novak Djokovic to finish as the greatest tennis player of all time, but noted that it was Roger Federer who had the ability to make an opponent miserable on court.
When Kyrgios and Federer squared off at the 2015 Madrid Masters, the Australian pulled off a shock victory. Kyrgios and Federer met six more times, with the Swiss ending up on the winning side each time.
Kyrgios may have lost six in a row against Federer, but a couple of their matches went the distance and ended with the Australian suffering heartbreaking defeats. “I think when all is said and done Novak will be the GOAT, but I think without Federer there is no Nadal, there is no Djokovic, he brought so many fans to tennis.
Nadal and Djokovic let you get into the game a bit more, with their groundstrokes and stuff, but Federer can make you feel like a !”#$, makes the court seem very small. If it’s something purely tennis related I would say Novak, but if he is more than an athlete I would say Federer,” Kyrgios said on The JBK Show.
Kyrgios: Federer is gone, I appreciate Djokovic’s presence
Before the start of the Australian Open, Kyrgios asked the Australian public to give Djokovic a warm welcome. “I think it’s very important to have him around.
Obviously, one of the greatest already left us last year, Roger [Federer], and I don’t think we really knew how special these guys are to our sport. So whenever Novak is around in one of these events, I want to beat him, even if he can’t in a Grand Slam, but it’s very important to have him around because he’s one of the [jugadores] most important for our sport,” said Kyrgios.
In the past, Kyrgios and Djokovic didn’t have a great relationship. But that all changed after Kyrgios publicly supported Djokovic during the Australia visa debacle. Kyrgios is currently recovering from knee surgery and his return is expected for the Indian Wells Masters 1000.
For his part, Djokovic is enjoying his recent success at the Australian Open and will be returning to competition at the ATP 500 in Dubai.
