Nick Kyrgios ‘used to hate and despise’ Rafael Nadal in Federer, Djokovic comparison

messiahrobins said:
Well..i think Kyrgios has admitted who he truly thinks is the GOAT lol. he is the exact kind of guy who hates the best. You will have seen this play out at school and at university and in clubs. The loudmouthed guys who think they are something cannot stand the guy who they see as the best and actually will tend to try and cosy up to the best player's biggest rivals.
Kyrgios always reminds me of a Jeremy bates type player from back in the day. In the 90s he would have struggled to break the top 50. Technically he has many flaws due to his dreadful footwork
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This makes no sense at all, except to the most delusional Nadal fans

When Kyrgios first came on the scene Federer was pretty much the undisputed GOAT and Nick liked him
 
This is interesting (apart from the Nadal Kyrgios feud… Nick K. is one of the most colossal talent wastes I’ve seen since 1980 along with Safin ). I actually could see JM1980’s point that

“The rallies became more demanding because of the excessive recovery time given to the players” as being a contributing factor.

I’d down for strict enforcement of rules and even a 10-second rule like JM1980 proposes between 1st & 2nd serves. That’s obv how servers game the clock now.

To me, though, besides fitness and dietary advances, it’s the polys, people. Outlaw the polys/copolys at the pro level, and vollá, you’d see more variety but not 90s style 1-2 or. rallies. I’ve been saying this for years, as has Martina Nav. String manufacturers (assuming one cares) would still make their money with amateurs and weekend warriors. Afraid the genie left the bottle, though, on this sadly.

As far as comparing how much time Djoko wasted with his bounces with Rafa’s service ticks and routines, it may be quantifiable, but it’s insignificant. Both guys went over the time a lot. Ironically & most importantly, however, their opponents hardly complained after such long, taxing rallies. It was the chair mainly. IOW, Rafa & Novak alike wore down their opponents.
 
MissileBackHand99 said:
Nadal lives rent-free in Kyrgios' head and has for a decade. Nadal's work ethic and willingness to push himself to hit one more shot...showed Kyrgios himself that he wasn't trying anywhere near hard enough out there. Instead of using it motivation, he doubled down in his laziness and formed some one-sided, childish hatred of Nadal. Nick truly is still the bratty kid whose rear end his family kissed and coddled from birth
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Spot on RE: Nick K’s psyche lol. Nadal’s work ethic revealed and exposed how lazy he really was.
 
messiahrobins said:
The fact Nadal is still the most talked about player even though he has effectively been retired for 2 years now in real terms will have rattled some guys in the locker room! perhaps it was the Olympic torch moment that cemented the envy in the haters minds for eternity. Oh well, never mind.
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why do you care if people talk about Nadal after he’s been retired
 

Most talked about player, robins ? I don't see Nadal talked about much on social medias since the week after the Davis Cup. He only retired 1 month ago. Nobody knew the Davis Cup would be his last event until early November. So of course people were going to speculate about him, his next tournaments, his exit. Logical. There were still people who believed he had a chance to win RG this year. As long as he was active, there were millions of things to say about Nadal.
The most trending players on my X and Instagram were Djokovic and Sinner/Swiatek (not for very good reasons, sadly) in December. There are still talks about Nadal but it's decreasing slowly. Unless he makes a last surprising comeback, it will continue to decrease months after months. Olympic Torch was just a nice gesture because he won the tournament 14 times on this very same court. When people think about Philippe Chatrier, they think about Nadal. He was the logical choice if they needed a male tennis player to carry the torch, I wouldn't read too much into it. Djokovic was the king of Paris 2024 in tennis. That was the most talked about topic. Clips of his final against Alcaraz are still proliferating , even 4 months later. Future Tennis fans looking back at Paris 2024 will remember Djokovic's tears after his won before Nadal's torch moment.
Nadal will never be forgotten but I truly think he'll be the most forgettable member of the big-3. Years down the road from now, tennis fans will remember Federer for his playing style and how it inspired other players... and Djokovic for all his records and for literally finishing the game in Paris 2024. Nadal with his 2 Slams and 200 weeks handicap will never be close to Djokovic in the Goat discussion if there can only be 1 Goat... and will never touch Federer's popularity around the world. He will always be the 3rd wheel of the big-3. I think he's made peace with it, thankfully. And I'll say it again, who cares about Kyrgios. I'm not bothered if he is Djokovic's friend but I don't give a flip about how he feels about him or Nadal and Federer. All these threads about Kyrgios are pointless. Let him give his opinions and ignore him, that's what I do.
 
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Golden-24 said:
Most talked about player, robins ? I don't see Nadal talked about much on social medias since the week after the Davis Cup. He only retired 1 month ago. Nobody knew the Davis Cup would be his last event until early November. So of course people were going to speculate about him, his next tournaments, his exit. Logical. There were still people who believed he had a chance to win RG this year. As long as he was active, there were millions of things to say about Nadal.
The most trending players on my X and Instagram were Djokovic and Sinner/Swiatek (not for very good reasons, sadly) in December. There are still talks about Nadal but it's decreasing slowly. Unless he makes a last surprising comeback, it will continue to decrease months after months. Olympic Torch was just a nice gesture because he won the tournament 14 times on this very same court. When people think about Philippe Chatrier, they think about Nadal. He was the logical choice if they needed a male tennis player to carry the torch, I wouldn't read too much into it. Djokovic was the king of Paris 2024 in tennis. That was the most talked about topic. Clips of his final against Alcaraz are still proliferating , even 4 months later. Future Tennis fans looking back at Paris 2024 will remember Djokovic's tears after his won before Nadal's torch moment.
Nadal will never be forgotten but I truly think he'll be the most forgettable member of the big-3. Years down the road from now, tennis fans will remember Federer for his playing style and how it inspired other players... and Djokovic for all his records and for literally finishing the game in Paris 2024. Nadal with his 2 Slams and 200 weeks handicap will never be close to Djokovic in the Goat discussion if there can only be 1 Goat... and will never touch Federer's popularity around the world. He will always be the 3rd wheel of the big-3. I think he's made peace with it, thankfully. And I'll say it again, who cares about Kyrgios. I'm not bothered if he is Djokovic's friend but I don't give a flip about how he feels about him or Nadal and Federer. All these threads about Kyrgios are pointless. Let him give his opinions and ignore him, that's what I do.
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Mate the olympics is a global event not a French event !. Nadal having that honour was because he is seen as GOAT in tennis obviously. Serena was there as well albeit i think Graf is GOAT ahead of her but consensus seems to be Serena.
Nadal is trending more than any other player on social media by a distance. Obviously that will subside eventually clearly. And rightly so. Its the Alcaraz Era now. And lets be honest at the moment pound for pound at his age the Greatest Ever so all sensible money has to be on him surpassing Nadal as the Greatest.
As for who will be forgotten of the Big 3, its obviously going to be Djokovic which he knows as he now is desperately trying to stay relevant and in the news with gimmicks such as Murray as coach and doubles with Kyrgios. Proof i am right is all there.
 
jm1980 said:
This makes no sense at all, except to the most delusional Nadal fans

When Kyrgios first came on the scene Federer was pretty much the undisputed GOAT and Nick liked him
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No actually when kyrgios burst on the scene Federer was struggling to win slams, think it ha been 2 years since he won a slam so at the time Nadal was the dominant player of the last 4 or 5 years so to Kyrgios and his age group Nadal would definitely have been seen as the best hence the resentment and that resentment seems to have got worse over time as Nadal kept winning. Add to that behind the scenes which not many know about the fact Nadal was very in the face of kyrgios and intimidated him more than once which shocked Kyrgios and his team (Kyrgios has cryptically referred to this btw and tried to dress it up as something more sinister) and the hatred Kyrgios had toward Nadal has snowballed and continues to do so clearly.
 
messiahrobins said:
No actually when kyrgios burst on the scene Federer was struggling to win slams, think it ha been 2 years since he won a slam so at the time Nadal was the dominant player of the last 4 or 5 years so to Kyrgios and his age group Nadal would definitely have been seen as the best hence the resentment and that resentment seems to have got worse over time as Nadal kept winning. Add to that behind the scenes which not many know about the fact Nadal was very in the face of kyrgios and intimidated him more than once which shocked Kyrgios and his team (Kyrgios has cryptically referred to this btw and tried to dress it up as something more sinister) and the hatred Kyrgios had toward Nadal has snowballed and continues to do so clearly.
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When Kyrgios beat Nadal, Fed was at 17 to Nadal's 14, and Fed had a much more well rounded resume outside of the Slams

Serious analysts at the time ranked Nadal below even Djokovic:

www.espn.com

Tennis' top 20 of all time

Who's the greatest tennis player of all time? It's a question that elicits heated debate and controversy. A panel of experts voted and came up with our top 20. Did we get it right?
www.espn.com
 
jm1980 said:
When Kyrgios beat Nadal, Fed was at 17 to Nadal's 14, and Fed had a much more well rounded resume outside of the Slams

Serious analysts at the time ranked Nadal below even Djokovic:

www.espn.com

Tennis' top 20 of all time

Who's the greatest tennis player of all time? It's a question that elicits heated debate and controversy. A panel of experts voted and came up with our top 20. Did we get it right?
www.espn.com
Click to expand...
ESPN lmao. You will find ESPN has always been anti spanish athletes, not just tennis.
Federer was not at the time the best player. He was beatable on all surfaces by that point which is the point you are missing. As he was seen as a fading GOAT his popularity was huge even in the locker room. We all thought he was spent.
Nadal was 5 years younger and had been the dominant player since 2008 on tour. So there were some who hated Nadal, especially younger players who grew up as Federer fans such as Kyrgios. Of course Kyrgios took the hate to a new level albeit Nadal is neutral towards him which in turn inflamed Kyrgios even more as he perceives that indifference by nadal as arrogance.
 
Golden-24 said:
Most talked about player, robins ? I don't see Nadal talked about much on social medias since the week after the Davis Cup. He only retired 1 month ago. Nobody knew the Davis Cup would be his last event until early November. So of course people were going to speculate about him, his next tournaments, his exit. Logical. There were still people who believed he had a chance to win RG this year. As long as he was active, there were millions of things to say about Nadal.
The most trending players on my X and Instagram were Djokovic and Sinner/Swiatek (not for very good reasons, sadly) in December. There are still talks about Nadal but it's decreasing slowly. Unless he makes a last surprising comeback, it will continue to decrease months after months. Olympic Torch was just a nice gesture because he won the tournament 14 times on this very same court. When people think about Philippe Chatrier, they think about Nadal. He was the logical choice if they needed a male tennis player to carry the torch, I wouldn't read too much into it. Djokovic was the king of Paris 2024 in tennis. That was the most talked about topic. Clips of his final against Alcaraz are still proliferating , even 4 months later. Future Tennis fans looking back at Paris 2024 will remember Djokovic's tears after his won before Nadal's torch moment.
Nadal will never be forgotten but I truly think he'll be the most forgettable member of the big-3. Years down the road from now, tennis fans will remember Federer for his playing style and how it inspired other players... and Djokovic for all his records and for literally finishing the game in Paris 2024. Nadal with his 2 Slams and 200 weeks handicap will never be close to Djokovic in the Goat discussion if there can only be 1 Goat... and will never touch Federer's popularity around the world. He will always be the 3rd wheel of the big-3. I think he's made peace with it, thankfully. And I'll say it again, who cares about Kyrgios. I'm not bothered if he is Djokovic's friend but I don't give a flip about how he feels about him or Nadal and Federer. All these threads about Kyrgios are pointless. Let him give his opinions and ignore him, that's what I do.
Click to expand...
The DELUSION is PALPABLE in this post
 
jm1980 said:
When Kyrgios beat Nadal, Fed was at 17 to Nadal's 14, and Fed had a much more well rounded resume outside of the Slams

Serious analysts at the time ranked Nadal below even Djokovic:

www.espn.com

Tennis' top 20 of all time

Who's the greatest tennis player of all time? It's a question that elicits heated debate and controversy. A panel of experts voted and came up with our top 20. Did we get it right?
www.espn.com
Click to expand...
Oh really? Tell me more. So according to your post, WHEN Kyrgios beat Nadal at W in 2014, “serious” pundits (the folks at ESPN no less lol) had already placed Djokovic over Nadal despite Djoko being at 6 & Nadal at 14? Your ESPN source is dated 2016, though. Someone is playing loose with the concept of time.
 
welcome2petrkordaland said:
Oh really? Tell me more. So according to your post, WHEN Kyrgios beat Nadal at W in 2014, “serious” pundits (the folks at ESPN no less lol) had already placed Djokovic over Nadal despite Djoko being at 6 & Nadal at 14? Your ESPN source is dated 2016, though. Someone is playing loose with the concept of time.
Click to expand...
It doesn't really change the argument much. In between the Kyrgios win and the time this article came out, neither Nadal nor Federer won anything of note.

I simply used Djokovic to illustrate how serious tennis analysts understand Nadal had an obvious clay skew in his resume, and that was and always will be counted against him
 
MichaelNadal said:
Nick with Nadal’s work ethic and mentality could have been scary
Click to expand...
That's true. (y) Nick's serve was one of the best in the game.

I never felt like his defensive movement was good enough to win a grand slam title, but maybe if he worked like Rafael Nadal, it could have been a different story...

Your avatar reminded me of this. :cool:

 
jm1980 said:
Nadal's "routines" always broke the rules. It's obvious gamesmanship, like delaying the server and taking MTOs. The aforementioned gamesmanship, and his fake humility are likely what Kyrgios dislikes most about Nadal
Click to expand...

I'm not getting into whether Nadal is fake humble or what he's like off court (I simply don't know). He may be genuinely a great guy off court, for all we know.

But his routines absolutely are gamesmanship, you are spot on. It's a bad look for tennis that they allowed him to routinely break rules and refuse to play at a server's pace. Shapo was 100% right when he called him and the umpire out in their AO match few years back.

For all the talk about Nadal being a rebel and similar BS, he has really been by far the biggest establishment darling in tennis.
 
Hating Nadal says all you need to know about a person.

Nick saw a better tennis player and a better man when he looked at Nadal.

And an immature person's reaction is to dislike that person, vs. the mature person's reaction is to learn from him and aspire to be more like him.

Is anyone surprised?
 
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