Goran: Kyrgios Will Never Win Slam With This Approach

Goran Ivanisevic says Nick Kyrgios is a Top 5 talent capable of winning Grand Slams, but blasted the Aussie's sometime apathetic attitude and declares "he's never going to win a Grand Slam with the approach he has now."The 2001 Wimbledon champion fired back at Kyrgios in an interview with The Telegraph's Charlie Eccleshare.More: Lopez Weds FianceeIvanisevic, who joined Djokovic's coaching team in June, praised Kyrgios' talent and questioned his character and repeated jabs at Djokovic."It's bad because I don't think Novak did anything wrong to him," Ivanisevic told The Telegraph. "He decides to pick on Novak for no reason. You can come on the court and do whatever you want, but you need to respect your opponent."He speaks a lot about Novak, only he knows the reason. But he should just take care of himself because he should be in the Top 5, he could win a Grand Slam. He's never going to win a Grand Slam with the approach he has now. If he could change it that would be great for him and for tennis."

In May, 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 was bluntly critical of Djokovic and his "cringe-worthy" victory celebration conceding "I just can't stand him."“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.”

More from Kyrgios, on Djokovic. He is 2-0 v ND.
'No matter how many (slams) he wins, he will never be the greatest. If you can’t beat me, you can’t be the greatest of all time..the celebration just kills me. If I play him and beat him, I’m doing the celebration in front of him.'
— Ravi Ubha (@raviubha) May 15, 2019

“He’s a champion of the sport, one of the greatest we will ever see," Kyrgios said. "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.“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?”

Reigning Wimbledon champion Djokovic revealed he offered helped to Kyrgios at the US Open years ago because the Aussie's public struggles reminded him a bit of his own issues as a rising young player."I had the opportunity to meet him before he started off the swarm of public criticism on my account," Djokovic told the Serbian media in June. "(I was) offering help, when everyone criticized him for behavior, in the sense that he could contact me if he needs anything because myself at the beginning of my career I suffered a lot of criticism at my own expense and went through similar situations. I do not know, from that moment on, something has changed, that's it."Though Kyrgios has been publicly critical, ATP Player Council President Djokovic said he's never discussed his issues privately with the world No. 1.Still, Djokovic said Kyrgios' criticism is "not something that keeps me awake at night.""No, absolutely not, everything is at the level of communication through the public," Djokovic said when asked if the pair had spoken privately. "I really tried my life to respect everyone and I did not have anyone like that …"Let's say the problem, though, it's not something that keeps me awake at night, as the English say."Photo credit: Novak Djokovic Facebook]]>