Nick Kyrgios thinks Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were left stunned after losing to him as the Australian believes the Big Three probably didn’t think they could lose to him.
Back in 2014, a 19-year-old Kyrgios was trying to make a name for himself when he shocked Nadal in their first meeting en route to making the Wimbledon quarterfinal in his debut at the most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. The following year, Kyrgios also managed to beat the great Federer in their first matchup at the Madrid Masters. In 2017, Kyrgios also got a chance to play Djokovic for the first time, beating the Serb in Acapulco.
Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal © Getty Images Sport – Matthew Stockman
This week, the new episode of Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios was released and this time the Australian tennis star hosted Naomi Osaka, whose production company Hana Kuma runs the podcast.
Kyrgios discusses with Osaka his wins over Federer, Nadal and Djokovic
“I don’t think Federer, Nadal or Djokovic ever thought they’d lose to me. I think they look back and they’re like, ‘How the hell did we manage to lose to him?'” Kyrgios told Osaka on the podcast.
Osaka responded by asking Kyrgios: “So how was that like and were you able to digest that that happened?”
Kyrgios then provided a very interesting answer, suggesting that beating Nadal while being unprofessional about his career made him believe beating the top guys was definitely possible.
“I guess I think about how unprofessional I was at that time. I didn’t give my full self to the game. I wasn’t training all the time and it just happened really early in my career,” Kyrgios answered.
“Beating Rafa, I was ranked like a 150 in the world and he was world No. 1 I think at Wimbledon. And then, it gave this belief that you could do it, like, you could just get there and rattle the scene a little bit and beat the best in the world.”
Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal © Getty Images Sport – Clive Brunskill
Since beating Nadal in their first meeting, Kyrgios has played against the Spaniard eight more times and now has a record of three wins and six losses against the former world No. 1. Against Federer, Kyrgios had a couple of big battles after their first meeting but ended up on the losing side in each of their last six matches.
Versus Djokovic, Kyrgios is one of the rare players who has a winning record – he also beat the Serb in 2017 Indian Wells before losing to the current world No. 1 for the first time in the 2022 Wimbledon final.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login