“Watching Novak tonight makes me feel good about my tennis in general…How have I beaten this guy,” Nick Kyrgios said in a previous interview. Both Nick Kyrgios and Novak Djokovic were once sworn enemies in the tennis world. However, their relationship has thawed into a flourishing bromance in the last couple of years. Both of them have faced each other three times in their careers as of now and guess what? The Aussie currently has a lead of 2-1 over the 24-time Grand Slam champion in the H2H record. Both of them are now all set to team up with each other for the doubles event at the Brisbane International. Is Kyrgios looking to “pick his brain” through these matches?

Well, during a recent interview at Brisbane International, the 29-year-old Aussie superstar gave a reply to this question. He said, “I mean, you’re acting like I’m not a decent tennis player. Like, I’ve beaten the guy twice. Look, he’s an amazing player, the greatest ever to play the court. I wouldn’t say I’m going out there and, ‘Oh, my God, Novak, you’re the best. Please give me advice.’ I’m not like that. I’m just going to go out there, have some fun.“

Previously, we saw Nick Kyrgios refusing to hold back in expressing his disdain towards Novak Djokovic. He always used to get under the skin of the Serb when they played on the court. However, now speaking on his partnership with Djokovic, the Aussie further added, “I think I actually help him more because he’s got to the point in his career he wants to obviously have a bit of fun. You don’t get to a position like that and you don’t get to have a career like that without serious discipline day in, day out. Now he’s starting to have a bit of fun. Obviously employing Andy Murray as his coach. He is looking for a change. He’s playing doubles with arguably the most controversial tennis players.”

What does he think about their chances in the doubles event with one of the greatest singles players of all time? “I don’t know how it’s going to be. We might get absolutely snipped. We’ve never played doubles before. We might not won. Everybody thinks we’re going to mesh. Two completely different personalities. See how it goes.” Irrespective of the outcome of this match, everyone in the tennis world is excited to see them rock the stage in Brisbane with their magical tennis show!

How excited is Nick Kyrgios about this epic partnership? Well, in reply to this question he gave a cheeky reply saying, “Of course he is, yeah. I mean, everyone thinks it’s a pleasure playing with him it’s actually a pleasure playing with me let’s be real.” What does Novak Djokovic have to say about playing with Kyrgios? 

“That’s going to be fun. We’ve never teamed up. Let’s see umm… we texted about it, we spoke earlier in Wimbledon about playing together when he was back on tour so got a first chance right away in the first week of the season so should be fun,” said the Serb. How has their relationship turned from being two fierce rivals to being two of the close friends on the men’s Tour?

“I wasn’t his favorite guy” – Novak Djokovic speaks about his relationship with Nick Kyrgios

In 2019, during a conversation at the No Challenges Remaining podcast, Nick Kyrgios was heard saying, “I just feel like he (Djokovic) has a sick obsession with wanting to be liked.” Not only that, the Aussie also stated, “He just wants to be like Roger [Federer]. This whole celebration thing that he does after matches, it’s like so cringeworthy. It’s very cringeworthy.” Then after that, in 2020 during an IG Live talk with Djokovic’s current coach, Andy Murray, Nick Kyrgios said, “I’m not going to make this controversial, but I honestly think you’re better than Djokovic.“

There have been several such incidents where we’ve seen Kyrgios mincing no words against the Serb. However, interestingly things turned a bit cooler in between the two in 2022. It was the time when Novak Djokovic was initially allowed to enter Melbourne for the AO, only to have his VISA rejected as he was deported a few days later. After seeing this, Djokovic said, “You (Kyrgios) were one of the very few colleagues on the tour to use his platform, use his voice, to support me (during the deportation) and that is something I will never forget.“

He also added, “I wasn’t his favorite guy – let’s take it that way – for many years.” However, what impressed Novak Djokovic most was, “He (Nick Kyrgios) was giving undivided support in the moments where I was being challenged a lot, and him as an Australian, I respected that a lot…Since then, our relationship has changed for the better.“

After that, Nick Kyrgios recently revealed how Novak Djokovic motivated him to make a strong comeback after staying out of the Tour for a long time. “I was hitting with Novak, and when he said to me, ‘it doesn’t look like you’ve had surgery,’ and that was a big motivation to say like maybe I’m actually making some inroads, and some progress into getting back because I didn’t really know.” Do you think this duo can do wonders in the doubles event at the Brisbane International?