Many people wanted to be like Roger Federer, but not Nick Kyrgios, and he explained why recently.
The Australian and Naomi Osaka have been making off-court moves together. They've joined hands in quite a few ventures as Kyrgios signed for Osaka's agency last year.
The Japanese player also has a production company called Hana Kuma, and Kyrgios has recently started hosting a podcast for the company. It's called 'Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios', and on it, the Australian invites many interesting people.
One of them was American entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. A regular on the podcast circuit, Vaynerchuk got Kyrgios talking, and the Australian revealed why he's never really considered Federer somebody he wanted to be.
The Swiss Maestro is arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, certainly the most elegant tennis player of all time, and likely the player who inspired most other tennis players to pick up a racket.
Still, Kyrgios always had his own journey, and despite likely respecting Federer and everything he's achieved, he knew that he could never be the same.
"If everyone was the same and acted the same, no one would watch. They wouldn't be growing fans, youthful fans, like... I'm not relatable to Federer. Only a couple of people are relatable to Federer, I'm not. I never looked at him and I was like, 'I wanna be that guy,' I knew it wasn't attainable."
The fact that he's so different from the rest is exactly why Kyrgios is as popular as he is today. His exciting tennis, his outspoken nature, and his always-felt presence are something that captivate audiences around the world despite being "different."
"It's easy to respect Rog, I understand what he did. I understand why people loved him, I know he's a good dude. But I don't like it, this is why I f**k with you so much."