Nick Kyrgios didn’t think that he did anything disrespectful toward Rafael Nadal when he decided to pull off an underarm serve in their first-ever meeting at Wimbledon.
A decade ago, the then-19-year-old stunned the former world No. 1 7-6 (5) 5-7 7-6 (5) 6-3 in the round-of-16 at The Championships. At the time, the Australian was making his debut at The All England Club – and not only that he upset one of the greatest players ever – but he also made his maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal.
But while Kyrgios’ game was drawing attention and some major predictions were being made about him, some took the instance with his behavior. At one point during the match, he went for an underarm serve, and it worked. It may have worked out perfectly for the Australian, but it didn’t sit well with some tennis purists, who thought that it was disrespectful to go for such a shot, especially at Wimbledon.
“I did it against Nadal. He is known for returning the ball like really far back in the court, so it’s hard to get a free point. So I needed to do something to get this guy out of this rhythm, and I did it and the whole tennis world called me really disrespectful, but, I won the match. So, I found a way. They (critics) were like, ‘How could he do that?’” Kyrgios recounted on The Louis Theroux Podcast.
Nick Kyrgios© YouTube screenshot
After sending Nadal home, the Australian also saw his campaign end in the quarterfinal following a four-set loss to Milos Raonic.
Kyrgios on why people have an issue with his behavior
The criticism that the 29-year-old following his Wimbledon match against Nadal was pretty much nothing compared to what came in the next several years when he became one of the most criticized and scrutinized players in the game. But in the Australian’s mind, he has never been the problem but it’s only that tennis is “an old, gentlemen’s sport,” where athletes are expected to behave a certain way or otherwise they will be labeled as “bad boys.”
“That’s been a story in my life. Really I mean coming into tennis, this is the answer to the couple of questions that you gave me with the reputations like John McEnroe coming up and then obviously Kyrgios. I guess we are a bit hot-headed in a way but I don’t think we are really because you know tennis is such an old, gentlemen sport,” Kyrgios explained.
“I think, anyone that kind of shows any personality is kind of outside the box and outside the cookie cutter of the normal tennis player. So I feel like behavior that you see from us would be completely normal in say rugby or soccer or you can kind of get away with those things in my opinion. I mean look, you can’t judge an athlete for what they do on the court, because you have to be two different people in my opinion.”
Kyrgios also recalled his infamous incident with Stan Wawrinka
A year after his match with Nadal, the former world No. 13 also took on another multiple Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka. But the difference was that the clash against the Swiss came at the Montreal Masters.
After losing a very tight first-set via a tie-break, the Australian got frustrated with the Swiss early on in the second set and he was heard telling the former world No. 3 that his girlfriend – who was Donna Vekic at the time – had relations with Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Nick Kyrgios© YouTube screenshot
While the two shook hands at the net after Wawrinka retired midway through the third set, the three-time Slam winner ripped Kyrgios after the match and called for a major fine.
Nine years later, the 29-year-old thinks it was something good actually.
“Just good old-fashioned trash talk. That’s very good and very necessary in sport,” the 2022 Wimbledon finalist recalled on the podcast.
Also, Kyrgios suggested that the Swiss was provoking him and that he responded.
“But I won the match. There’s a whole story as to why it came out, but I’m not going to babble on about it. We were just going back and forth, back and forth, and it just… he wasn’t really talking stuff but he was trying to hit me in the head with a tennis ball and I was like, ‘What’s this guy’s problem?’” he added.
On the same podcast, Kyrgios also touched down on his injury period and comeback, admitting that the last two years weren’t easy at all but that he would make a comeback at the start of 2025.