Rafael Nadal – “Nick Kyrgios Has To Learn To Respect His Opponent”

There has been friction between the World Number two, Rafael Nadal and the Australian, Nick Kyrgios since Rafa’s loss to Kyrgios in Acapulco this year. Their recent meeting at Wimbledon turned out to be one of the heated encounters of the tournament. Rafael Nadal perceives Nick can do well in big tournaments and matches. He is one of the gifted talents on the ATP Tour and he has an electrifying game. Kyrgios is expected to show up on big courts and become a tough competitor on the ATP tour.

“What I said, first of all, is that Nick is a good guy, he has such an amazing talent that he should fight for the top-ranking positions and the biggest titles,” Rafael Nadal said. Talent alone will never be enough, there are other dimensions of the sport which are to be incorporated to produce flourishing results.

An individual is expected to respect their profession and Kyrgios seems to lack respect for tennis. He earns his bread and butter from tennis and the respect towards the sport and his opponents should inevitable.

During their second-round match at Wimbledon, Kyrgios attempted hit Rafael Nadal with the ball, while Rafa was on the volley. It was a deliberate move made by the Australian, and he later mentioned that he wouldn’t apologize for the same.

“I also said that for me he has to learn to respect his opponent, the crowd and himself because he often speaks too much saying he doesn’t like the sport,” Nadal continued. Kyrgios admitted about not practicing tennis with devotion and he neither takes care of his fitness regime.

Tennis experts do believe that tennis needs Nick Kyrgios once the ‘Big Three’ hang their boots. He is one of the next generation contenders, who exhibits the faculties of carrying the sport forward. He has the knack for tennis and experts have termed him as an ‘exceptional talent’ of tennis.

The tennis audience feels, it a pleasure to watch Nick’s matches and he shouldn’t be a bad influence on the children who watch his tennis matches.   

“But in the end, you earn a living by playing tennis. Honestly, all that I said was not that important. Everyone is free to do what they want but Nick has an impact on the younger generations. He is popular. I think we need to show good values to kids who watch us on TV,” Rafael Nadal said.

Rafa mentioned about the ‘Big Three’ of tennis having mutual respect for each other. They have never been impolite with and to no one’s surprise, along with their tennis maneuvers these qualities make them the global ambassadors of the sport.

“I think that Roger (Federer), Novak (Djokovic) and I always respected each other. We respected the opponents, the game, the crowd and I think we are good examples, that’s all. That’s my feeling. But I never said anything bad about Nick.” Nadal said.