Nicky Kyrgios proclaimed 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic as the greatest tennis player of all time but opined that Roger Federer was the hardest to play on match day.
The 28-year-old Australian described what it felt like playing all three members of the Big 3 in past interviews, and he augmented his previous claims while speaking as an invited guest on the Hotboxin' podcast hosted by retired professional boxer Mike Tyson.
Kyrgios remains the only player to have beaten each of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer in their first encounter. He currently leads the head-to-head against Djokovic 2-1, but trails against both Nadal and Federer by some margin.
In spite of his losing record against the Spaniard, Kyrgios relished their meetings and felt like he had the most success in terms of matching up to his style of play. Kyrgios has faced Nadal more than any other member of the Big 3. Nadal has won six of their nine meetings, but only two of those wins were in straight sets.
Kyrgios then explained how Federer's charisma elevated his status no matter where he played. He admits the Swiss legend was the kind of player who could leave you on the backseat utterly out of ideas on a tennis court.
"I matched up really well against Nadal. I had the most success against him, but he’s still beaten me a lot of times. Federer could make you feel really sh*t. No matter where you played him in the world, he was the fan favorite. Play him in Europe, America, Australia.. everyone wanted Federer to win all the time."
Despite his winning record against Djokovic, Kyrgios put the Serbian ahead of everybody else as the greatest to ever pick up a racket. He made subtle yet ingenious descriptions of Djokovic and Federer, adding that it was harder to play Swiss.
"I think Novak is the greatest of all time, but for me, Federer was the hardest to play. Something about him.. he was really aggressive & didn’t give you much room to breathe."
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