Trust Nick Kyrgios to never mince his words. The Australian star, appearing on the Nothing Major Podcast, spoke candidly about Jannik Sinner and Rafael Nadal. Kyrgios has never hidden his thoughts about Sinner and stayed true to his views on the podcast. He warned the World No.1 about what to expect should they meet in the first Grand Slam of 2025.
During his discussion with Sam Querrey, Jack Sock, John Isner, and Steve Johnson, Kyrgios was asked about his return to professional tennis at the Australian Open 2025. The Wimbledon 2022 finalist admitted that he would surely feel the nerves and pressure of playing after a lengthy absence, especially in front of his home crowd.
However, Kyrgios admitted that he doesn’t mind playing Sinner, say, in the third round of the men’s singles event. This is a huge possibility because the Australian will be entering the main draw directly using his protected ranking. He claimed that if Sinner was his opponent, he would “do anything to beat him”.
“I just want to go out there and I really want to play Sinner.”
Kyrgios warned that he would try to get the crowd in his favor, putting more pressure on Sinner and turning Melbourne Park into an “absolute riot”. The Aussie said it is healthy for the sport to have two opponents who are complete opposites in terms of their personalities.
“If I played him in the Australian Open I would just get every single person in the crowd to get on him. Everyone will watch because it’s contrasting personalities, we don’t like each other and I think it’s healthy in sport.”
It would be some matchup for sure. But the point Kyrgios made about contrasting personalities is somewhat similar to how he felt about Nadal when they played against each other.
Kyrgios revealed two reasons why he “hated” Nadal at the start of his career
Kyrgios was candid enough to admit that out of the ‘Big 3′, Nadal annoyed him the most on the court at the beginning of his career. A lot of this was due to Nadal’s famous routines, or superstitions, as some would call them.
Nadal was known for being slow in delivering his serves, and he managed to get under Kyrgios’ skin every time he missed out on his first serve.
“He would abuse the shot clock all the time. I used to hate and despise him so much when I saw him walking around… If I played him, I would get up for it and try and get the best tennis I could possibly play.”
Kyrgios also revealed that many people in Australian academies praised Nadal for his work ethic, among other things. He wanted to show them that there was another way to play the game.
“Everyone in our academies back home idolized him, they were like he is such a hard worker, he’s this and that. I was like I can’t stand this guy. I wanted to show people you could just have fun and be chilled and beat people like that.”
While Kyrgios mended his equation with Rafa eventually, would he do the same with Sinner in the future? Only time will tell.
