Nick Kyrgios made a contentious claim while comparing the sport of tennis between two different generations and eras.
Throughout his career, Kyrgios has always been synonymous with speaking his mind irrespective of how much stick he receives from the internet. As such, he’s been a polarizing figure in tennis and has never shied from making controversial statements on many tennis-related topics.
Recently, he sat down for an interview with the Athletic, where he made comparisons of today’s game with the decades gone by. Kyrgios believes modern tennis is better because it is being played in a fast-paced environment.
The Australian tennis star is of the notion that tennis has evolved significantly, so much so that you could easily spot even the serving speeds of the players in the past decades to those of the current era.
Kyrgios opined that tennis greats like Boris Becker, who excelled in the 80s and 90s, would struggle because of a slower serve.
“The game was so slow back then. 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 is absurd. A big serve back then was like 197 to 200 kmh.”
“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, bro, Djokovic eats you alive. He eats you alive.”
Kyrgios supports his theory by proving a classic case of compatriot Lleyton Hewitt‘s prowess at returning slower serves. Hewitt won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open by dismantling Pete Sampras – considered one of the greatest servers in tennis history – in the final.
Kyrgios asserted that because Hewitt excelled at neutralizing Sampras’ serve efficiently, current World No. 1 Novak Djokovic would “destroy” the 14-time major champion with his world-class return game.
“Bro 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 cleanup. If Hewitt was doing it, Djokovic would destroy him. He would eat him alive.”
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