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Nick Kyrgios - Wimbledon 2022
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Boris Becker slams Nick Kyrgios, saying he has no ‘credibility’ in tennis


Boris Becker has furiously hit out at Nick Kyrgios after the Australian claimed former greats would get ‘destroyed’ by modern players.

Becker won six Grand Slam titles in his career and was a master a serve and volley, a style of tennis that was dominant at the time.

Pete Sampras was another brilliant champion who used the style, plundering 14 majors, but Kyrgios does not believe such players would thrive in modern conditions. Boris Becker, understandably, is not happy at all about it.

“Nick makes a lot of noise about tennis lately,” Becker wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Why does he speak about a sport he apparently hates?

“Fact-check: Nick has never won a major championship as a player or coach (yes, one doubles) so where is any credibility coming from?

“Trying to compare generations… Laver v Federer, Borg v Nadal , Sampras v Djokovic!?! I am not even gonna mention McEnroe, Conners, Lendl Agassi, Courier, Edberg, Wilander, Kuerten, Bruguera, Rafter, Hewitt and many more …speak to your Only Fans  (referring to Kyrgios’ new social media platform) about many things but tennis!”

After having his say, though, Becker did relent a little from the counter-attack and took the time to wish Kyrgios a smooth return from injury.

“I wish Nick a speedy full recovery and can’t wait to see him back on a tennis court! He is an exciting player when he is fit.

“He has got a Grand Slam in his bag but you have to do the talking on the court. Good luck!”

What did Nick Kyrgios say to rile Boris Becker?

We all know that Kyrgios is not exactly a stranger to a social media dust-up. He has had numerous over the years so it’s no surprise to see another.

This particular one stems from comments that Kyrgios made in The Athletic in which he claimed that modern greats would ‘destroy’ their counterparts from previous years – Becker included.

“The game was so slow back then,” Kyrgios said. “I’ve watched Boris Becker and I’m not saying they weren’t good in their time, but to say that they would be just as good now, it’s absurd.

“A big serve back then was like 197 to 200 KM/H. People like me, we serve 220 consistently, to corners. It’s a whole different ball game.

“I’m not saying they wouldn’t have found their way. But serve and volley, to do it all the time now, you need to be serving 220, because if you serve anything less than 220, Djokovic eats you alive.

“He eats you alive. Lleyton Hewitt destroyed Sampras one year at the U.S. Open. That was the first prototype of someone who could return serve. He made Sampras look like sh*t.

“And what would Djokovic do to someone like Sampras? It would be a clean-up. If Hewitt was doing it, Djokovic would destroy him. He would eat him alive.”

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Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.