Novak Djokovic - Off the court "not much respect for Kyrgios"
Novak Djokovic also lost a few words about Nick Kyrgios in his press conference before the Australian Open. Bottom line: The two will probably not become friends anymore.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Feb 07, 2021, 01:05 pm
A sporting meeting between Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios at the Australian Open 2021 is possible, although very unlikely. This would only come about in the semi-finals. And Kyrgios has never achieved such a thing in his career. While Djokovic as defending champion and eight-time champion of the Australian Open can very well be expected in the semifinals. This encounter would have its charm, because Kyrgios won the only two games between the two in 2017, in Acapulco and Indian Wells. At that time, however, the current world number one was in a creative crisis, there can be no talk of that in 2021. Kyrgios, on the other hand, has not attacked his own Anganeb after his racket for months - there are some question marks behind the Australian's constitution.
For this, Kyrgios had a lot of verbal cracking during the Corona break, and Djokovic massively criticized Djokovic on social media after the Adria Tour that had to end early. Which, as expected, did not go down well with the industry leader. "In the past he had the quality to really beat any player in the world," said Djokovic at his press conference before the start of the first major of the year. "I honestly don't have much respect for him off the pitch." And Djokovic wanted to leave it at that.
#VIDEO#
Djokovic at the start against Chardy
The draw for the Australian Open brought Djokovic to a veterans meeting with Jeremy Chardy. Taylor Fritz could wait first, followed by Milos Raonic in the round of 16. All of them players against whom the number one in the world goes into the match as a huge favorite. A potential quarter-final against Alexander Zverev would promise more excitement. Especially since the Serb could only win the meeting at the ATP Cup a few days ago with a show of strength in the third set.
Serbia was unable to defend the title at this year's event, which was held with only twelve teams: Djokovic remained undefeated in the singles as in 2020, but he lost the decisive double alongside Nikola Cacic against Zverev and Jan-Lennard Struff .