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Australian Open, Nick Kyrgios, Novak Djokovic, Tennis News

‘Novak Djokovic is a very strange cat,’ says Nick Kyrgios as war of words escalates further


Nick Kyrgios has reignited his war of words with Novak Djokovic after branding him ‘a very strange cat.’

Kyrgios has been a constant critic of Djokovic this year especially, particularly since the Serbian’s Adria Tour which ended abruptly due to a coronavirus outbreak.

Since the turn of the year it has escalated further, with Kyrgios first calling Djokovic ‘a tool’ on social media and Djokovic issuing a reply that he ‘did not respect him off the court.’

And, when asked for his thoughts on Djokovic’s comments, Kyrgios typically wasn’t feeling shy.

“It’s a strange one for me,” Kyrgios said after his Australian Open first round win. “I read his comments. He said he doesn’t respect me off the court.

“I’m like, it actually would make complete sense to me if he was like, ‘I don’t respect the guy on the court’, because I understand if he doesn’t agree with some of my antics on the court that I’ve done in the past.

“[But] when we’ve played matches, I think I’ve been pretty good towards him. I’m not quite sure how you can’t respect me off the court.

“I feel like I’ve gone about things extremely well, especially during the pandemic, I was driving around delivering food to people during the pandemic that couldn’t get the supplies.

“I was extremely careful about what I was doing – I didn’t want to spread the virus to anyone. Now, I’m actually trying to donate meal kits to people who need food. I have a foundation.

“So it’s very strange to me why he would say he doesn’t respect me off the court – I actually do a lot off the court.

“But he’s a very strange cat, Novak is. A heck of a tennis player but unfortunately someone who’s partying with his shirt off during a global pandemic, I don’t know if I can take any slack from that man. That’s as bad as it gets for me.”


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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.