By Chris Oddo | Wednesday May 15, 2019
Nick Kyrgios gave a rare, even-more-candid-than-usual interview to Ben Rothenberg of the New York Times for Rothenberg’s tennis podcast, “No Challenges Remaining,” and the Aussie did not hesitate to speak his mind about the game’s top players, his feelings about life on the tour and even his so-called beef with Rothenberg himself.
Spoiler alert: They’re kind of not beefing, and they actually have great rapport, which made this interview all the more genuine and, frankly, must-listen.
Here's the interview. You should take the time and listen to it yourself--it's a wild ride.
You can probably just go ahead and Google Nick Kyrgios and Ben Rothenberg and find a whole lot of juicy quotes that came out of the World No.36’s mouth today on subjects both delicate and humorous. Or you can scroll down as we recap for you some of the finer points, starting with Kyrgios’ disdain for the legends of the game. Well, to be fair, disdain may not be the proper term. Kyrgios wants to be careful to avoid giving tennis’ holy trilogy of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic too much respect and he doesn’t make that mistake here.
Rothenberg gave the Aussie a handful of names to contemplate, one-by-one, and asked Kyrgios to just have at it and not hold back. Lo and behold, Kyrgios was game. Oh was he ever so game.
After ripping Fernando Verdasco as an entitled player that absolutely vexes him, Kyrgios talked about Andy Murray, whom he adores.
“If I was his coach, he would have won more Grand Slams for sure,” Kyrgios said of Murray, then he was asked by Rothenberg if he’d want Murray coaching him. “I’m a little but uncoachable,” he said.
Then there was Federer, who Kyrgios places on a pedestal above all else.
“The first thing that comes to mind is the Greatest of All-Time,” he said of Federer. “I feel like his talent level, it’s off the charts. I did a bit of commentating down at the Australian Open this year and I was watching him play Fritz and his movement, his preparation and the way he reads the game, it’s second to none, seriously, he’s so talented.”
Kyrgios has lost three straight to Federer, so maybe he should find a way to dislike the Swiss more—he certainly has no problem disliking Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal and we’ll get to that in a bit.
“For anyone who wants to play a sport they just want to be like Federer,” Kyrgios said. “Even me like I couldn’t play any different but the way I kind of like slice and I imitate his serve, everyone kind of wants a little bit of Roger in their game, he’s so talented he’s for sure the best.”
Then Kyrgios, now warmed up, moved to the subject of Nadal.
“He’s my polar opposite, and he’s super salty,” Kyrgios said of Nadal. “Rafa gets me vexed as well.”
The Aussie went on to say that he didn’t appreciate Nadal saying that he didn’t respect his opponents or the game after he knocked off the Spaniard at Acapulco in February for his third career win against him. Anybody who watched that match knows it was like no other match in a lot of ways. It was also the beginning of a new trend of underarm serves, which Kyrgios started against Nadal.
There could be more bad blood between these two if they meet again.
But the matchup we’re all going to be dying to see when it occurs next is Djokovic against Kyrgios. The Aussie ripped Djokovic as disingenuous and said that he could not stand his patented post-match celebration.
These are the quotes that are likely to be making the most headlines from an interview full of bulletin board material.
“I just feel like he has a sick obsession of wanting to be liked,” Kyrgios said of Djokovic. “For me personally I feel like he just wants to be liked so much I just can’t stand him. Like this whole celebration thing that he does after the match it’s like so cringe-worthy, very cringe-worthy.”
Kyrgios then switched course, showing a bit of deference before he got back to ripping the Serb. “He’s a champion of the sport, one of the greatest we will ever see. Honestly I think he will get the Grand Slam count—I think he will overpass Federer.”
Kyrgios owns a 2-0 lifetime edge against Djokovic but both of those victories came during a period in 2017 when the Serb was a little bit lost, both mentally and physically. Nevertheless, the victories were used as a measuring stick by Kyrgios as he trucked through the conversation at a rapid clip.
“No matter how many Grand Slam wins he will never be the greatest for me," he said. "Simply because I’ve played him twice and I’m sorry but if you can’t beat me you’re not the greatest of all-time.”
Gosh what would it be like to be a fly on the wall in the room where Djokovic gets wind of these quotes? Or maybe Djokovic has seen it all and heard it all before?
Kyrgios continued: “He always says what he feels like he needs to say, never speaks his opinion—I don’t know. If I play him and I beat him—I’m doing his celebration in front of him. That would be hilarious, right?”
There was also an interesting conversation, facilitated by Rothenberg, about Kyrgios’ well-documented sledge of Stan Wawrinka at Montreal in 2015. Regrettably, the Aussie didn’t show much remorse from an incident that took cringe-worthy to a new level.
“I think it’s hilarious,” he said of the moment that earned him a one-month provisional suspension and fine (later dropped for good behavior). “Back then I was so young, I was very immature. I would never do something like that now. I think it’s hilarious now but I wouldn’t ever do it again.”
When asked if he felt like he crossed a line by Rothenberg, the Aussie replied: “Honestly I don’t think I did,” he said. “Because if I’m playing basketball—and I do play basketball to this day that sort of stuff is fine. I’m not trying to be your friend out there, and I’m not your friend off the court anyway. If I can get something to get under your skin then I’m doing it straight away.”
Kyrgios did have some praise for himself at the end of the interview. Nothing wrong with a little confidence, right?
“Tennis is the one thing I do in my life,” he said, when asked if he kept a book of how to get under all the top player’s skin. “I feel like I’m actually a bit of a genius on the court. I’ve been playing for so long, I haven’t had a coach in a while, I’m beating top players. I know how to play people, I know what their weaknesses are. It’s the only thing I do—so I’m actually quite smart in this game.”