The GOAT debate in sports never dies. Fans usually chose players who they have watched growing up or players based on statistics. Emotion mostly trumps all. Active players are also asked many times to choose which player they believe is the best. The Australian Nick Kyrgios recently talked about his favorites for the GOATs and completely sidelined legendary players John McEnroe and Pete Sampras.

Nick Kyrgios is an avid basketball fan as well. He believes that if he didn’t play tennis as a professional, he could have become a basketball player in some league in the world. He even turned his love of the sport into an investment opportunity by owning a part of the NBL team South East Melbourne Park.

Nick Kyrgios likens Michael Jordan and Roger Federer

The bad boy of tennis recently went on a podcast, Impaulsive, hosted by Logan Paul, Mike Majlak, and George Janko. He talked about several things on the podcast including conspiracy theories, his favorite Pokemon, and more.

Paul and his co-hosts also asked Kyrgios about his pick for the greatest tennis players of all time. Kyrgios promptly chose Roger Federer and said that he was similar to Michael Jordan. He also stated that Novak Djokovic is also up there and is statistically a little better. “I think Federer and Jordan are very similar okay, but I think Novak statistically and all that type of stuff is better.”

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Majlak further asked Kyrgios if he thought John McEnroe and Pete Sampras are up there in the GOAT debate. Kyrgios replied with a resounding disagreement. He reasoned that Michael Jordan could play in the current NBA style and still have a high score. However, the players of this era would easily defeat McEnroe and Sampras and they wouldn’t survive the current climate.

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“

I think Jordan could play in numbers. Jordan could play in this era. I think like Jordan could still play in this era where like those guys would get absolutely snipped in this era.” Kyrgios explained to Majlak.

Kyrgios a basketball fan

In the same segment in the podcast, Majlak talked about LeBron James’ achievement of becoming the highest scorer in the NBA. He used the statement to ask Kyrgios who he thinks the basketball GOAT is in his eyes. Kyrgios immediately replied with LeBron James.

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“I think LeBron’s a GOAT.” Kyrgios replied to the question. “I’ve got, I’ve got Kobe here tattooed, and I got LeBron on my arm like I love, like, I live basketball like love it.”

Kyrgios is a lot of people’s pick for a highly talented individual in tennis. Many think that he is a generational talent and will go on to have high achievements.