Nick Kyrgios says he absolutely never wanted to be like Roger Federer due to the very simple reason that he is a completely different personality and just attempting to be like the Swiss tennis icon was never an option because he knew it would never work.
During his career, Federer was widely regarded as one of the classiest and most gentlemen athletes and people – not just in the tennis world – but in the entire sports world. Today, many hail the former 20-time Grand Slam champion as the “best ambassador” the game has ever had because his success and reputation played a major part in tennis becoming more popular and elevating as a sport.
While Federer was always very calm, composed and cool on the court, Kyrgios – who has been one of the most popular players on the Tour over the last decade – is the exact opposite as he has always been known as a very passionate and emotional player, who always tells or shows how he is feeling in a certain moment.
Nick Kyrgios© Getty Images Sport – Julian Finney
Kyrgios on why he is ‘not relatable’ to Federer
“If everyone was the same and acted the same, no one would watch. They wouldn’t be growing fans, youthful fans, like…” Kyrgios said during his conversation with American businessman Gary Vaynerchuk in the latest episode of Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios.
“I’m not relatable to Federer. Only a couple of people are relatable to Federer, I’m not.
“I never looked at him and I was like, ‘I wanna be that guy,’ I knew it wasn’t attainable.”
Nick Kyrgios and Roger Federer© Getty Images Sport – Darrian Traynor
Kyrgios may not be a Federer but he has always had the deepest level of respect for the Swiss tennis legend.
In one of his interviews from late 2023, Kyrgios declared Federer “the king of tennis” and highlighted that the former 20-time Grand Slam champion was the reason why many of the current players picked up a racket to play tennis.
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