Comparisons are all the rage in the 21st century; however, Nick Kyrgios dismisses the comparison made between himself and John McEnroe.
As a player who came in arguing a lot with umpires and throwing tantrums often, Kyrgios obviously got compared to John McEnroe, who was one of the first players on the ATP Tour known as a hothead.
While some similarities are obvious, there are some pretty distinct differences between players. McEnroe had far more success as a tennis player because he took it way more seriously than Kyrgios.
His passion for winning was far greater than that of Kyrgios, who always maintained a lukewarm stance on his tennis career.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter because they are different people and different players. Kyrgios himself dismissed the comparison in a recent interview with Piers Morgan.
I don’t think I’ve ever been defaulted from a match. He broke all his rackets and had no rackets to play with and had to get defaulted. So I don’t think I’ve ever done that. I’ve walked off the court.
Kyrgios might consider it walking off the court, but he defaulted four years ago in Rome when he threw the player’s chair onto the court. In any case, meeting McEnroe was a bit tense because the former player pleaded with Kyrgios for years to take his tennis career seriously.
When me and Johnny Mac first met each other, I feel like we were both a bit on edge at Laver Cup because he was team world’s captain and I was like team world’s kind of comradery captain in that sense. And we both didn’t know how we were going to be.
Ultimately, the meeting went really well, and Kyrgios, who is gearing up for a comeback, and McEnroe came to an understanding that they’re pretty similar in some ways. They both try to be their genuine self, and it’s why they are as beloved as they ultimately are.
And then we sat down,we had dinner together and we realized that we’re pretty similar in the sense where we’re trying to be ourselves. We’re just trying to be original and authentic. And I feel like he was really surprised that I was intellectually pretty switched on and he doesn’t really try and give me advice anymore. He knew pretty early that I was my own person.
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