Nick Kyrgios is not backing down in his criticism of Novak Djokovic, revealing he plans to keep calling out any poor behaviour from players on the tour.
Key points:
- Nick Kyrgios has called Novak Djokovic a “tool” and “boneheaded” in the past year
- Kyrgios said Djokovic was one of tennis’s leaders, like Lebron James was in basketball
- Kyrgios said his morals meant he would continue to speak out against poor behaviour
Last week, Kyrgios labelled Djokovic a “tool” for writing a letter asking Australian Open organisers to ease quarantine restrictions for players, although amidst the backlash Djokovic said he had been “misconstrued”.
It was the latest in a long line of criticism from the Australian ace directed at the world number one and former president of the ATP Player Council.
Djokovic’s infamous Adria Tour exhibition tournament last June, which ended in him and other players testing positive for COVID-19, was described by Kyrgios as “boneheaded”.
However, world number 47 Kyrgios said his morals dictated that he hold his fellow professionals to account.
A diehard NBA fan, Kyrgios compared the influence Djokovic, an eight-time Australian Open winner, has in the sport as equivalent to that of LA Lakers superstar LeBron James in basketball.
“[Djokovic is] one of our leaders of our sport. He’s technically our LeBron James in the way he has to be setting an example for all tennis players,” Kyrgios told CNN.
“When he was doing some of the things he was doing during the global pandemic, it just wasn’t the right time.
“I know everyone makes mistakes, some of us go off track sometimes, and I think we have to hold each other accountable.
“We’re colleagues at the end of the day; we compete against each other, we play in the same sport.
“No-one else was really holding him [Djokovic] accountable.
“I’m not doing any of this sort of stuff for media attention: these are the morals I’ve grown up with and I was just trying to do my part.”
AAP/ABC
