"Don't think Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic ever thought they'd lose to me" - Nick Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios has opened up to Naomi Osaka about his victories over Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.
Kyrgios is not the only ATP player to have registered victories over all the members of the Big Three. Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, Dominic Thiem, Lleyton Hewitt, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin del Potro, and Andy Murray have done it as well.
However, Kyrgios' wins were much more surprising compared to the others because of the Australian's often casual and nonchalant approach to tennis. Recently, Kyrgios talked about his wins over the Big Three with former WTA World No. 1 Naomi Osaka on the Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios podcast.
According to the 2022 Wimbledon Championships runner-up, Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic would have probably never thought that they would be beaten by Kyrgios. The Australian attributed this to his unprofessionalism towards the sport, which is widely regarded as one of the reasons behind his inability to enjoy consistent success despite his undeniable talent.
"I don't think Federer, Nadal or Djokovic ever thought they'd lose to me. I think they look back and they're like, "How the hell did we manage to lose to him?"," Kyrgios told Osaka.
"So how was that like and were you able to digest that that happened?" Osaka asked the Australian.
"I guess I think about how unprofessional I was at that time. I didn't give my full self to the game. I wasn't training all the time and it just happened really early in my career," Kyrgios answered.
The 28-year-old went on to recall his shock 2014 Wimbledon win against Nadal and how it gave him immense belief going forward.
"Beating Rafa, I was ranked like a 150 in the world and he was World No. 1 I think at Wimbledon. And then, it gave this belief that you could do it, like, you could just get there and rattle the scene a little bit and beat the best in the world," Kyrgios said.
Nick Kyrgios enjoys a superior head-to-head against Novak Djokovic but trails Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
Kyrgios has faced Djokovic three times on the ATP Tour and leads their head-to-head 2-1. However, their last meeting in the final of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships went the Serb's way.
Against Federer, the Australian won only once, with the win coming in their first-ever meeting at the 2015 Mutua Madrid Open. Since then, the Swiss triumphed over the Australian six times.
Nadal too, enjoys a 6-3 lead over Kyrgios. The Spaniard was forced to withdraw from the pair's 2022 Wimbledon semifinal clash with injury, which helped the Australian set up a date with Djokovic in the final. However, in the last full match that they played at the 2022 BNP Paribas Open, it was Nadal who came out on top.