Nick Kyrgios recently detailed a captivating experience early on in his career when he shared a training camp with retired legend Roger Federer in Switzerland.
Kyrgios is currently on an injury hiatus, having played just one ATP match since the start of 2023. He has been recovering from knee and wrist injuries in that timespan and has missed five successive Grand Slam tournaments, including the 2024 Australian Open.
In his time away from competitive tennis, Kyrgios has found a new passion in commentating, working with major broadcasters like Tennis Channel during its coverage of the ATP Finals in Turin and Eurosport, where he is one of the lead co-commentators at his home Slam.
During an episode, while sitting in a television booth, Kyrgios revealed a time in his career when the 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer invited him to a training block in Switzerland for two weeks.
The Australian star narrated how he was startled by Federer's on-court drills, watching him from up close, but was far from impressed by his modest accommodation arrangements for him during the stay.
"I did a bit of training week with Roger Federer early in my career and I was always wondering 'How does this guy train? How does he keep getting better?' He would just create drills that he would want to do and work on his slice."
"He invited me for a training week and I thought I was going to be staying in a five, six-star hotel. He put me in a three-star hotel for two weeks. Cheers Rog! The Wi-Fi was patchy, couldn’t even get a good night’s rest, the guy is out there for three, four hours with me the next day."
Kyrgios has a losing record against the former World No. 1, losing in six of their seven encounters, but he remains the only player to have beaten each member of the Big 3 in their first ATP meeting. In the same interview, Kyrgios, however, highlighted the delicacies in Switzerland as the highlight of his visit.
"The clubhouses in Switzerland have the best food, those old European clubhouses man. But look he was a pretty good tennis player, I mean the food was incredible."
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