On 10 October 2024, the tennis legend, Rafael Nadal first spoke about his intention to retire from the sport after playing for his nation at the 2024 Davis Cup Finals in Malaga. Shortly, after he made this announcement we saw several of his peers dropping in emotional posts about the Spaniard. One among them was the Aussie star, Nick Kyrgios. He tweeted, “Rafa don’t retire I wanna play you 1 last time.” Kyrgios said Rafael Nadal is like an “inspiration” to him and further added, “We had our differences but you were one hell of a warrior. Best wishes and good luck with whatever comes next.” Now, almost one month has passed since his retirement! How does Kyrgios look at that moment?

Rafael Nadal officially retired from the racquet sport on 19 November 2024 and ever since that day, the tennis world has been cherishing his glorious 23 years of contribution to the sport. Nick Kyrgios and Rafael Nadal have played against each other nine times in their careers. Nadal won six out of those nine meetings and over the years their relationship was filled with literally everything one could ask for in a rivalry. Talking about feuds, in 2019, Nick Kyrgios accused Rafael Nadal of taking too long between serves at Acapulco.

After the match, the Spaniard was even heard saying, “He (Kyrgios) lacks respect for the public, the rival, and towards himself.” Then even during the 2019 Wimbledon Championships, Nick Kyrgios admitted to aiming a shot at Nadal’s chest and refused to apologise. So, there have been quite a few moments like these between the two in the past. However, now it’s all about “mutual respect.” Talking about respecting Rafael Nadal, the Aussie star recently appeared on the ‘Nothing Major’ podcast. During the podcast, he revealed how emotional it was for him to see Rafael Nadal retire from the sport.

In the podcast, American former professional tennis player, Steve Johnson asked him about how emotional was it for him to witness that moment. Replying to that question, Nick Kyrgios said, “Yeah, he (Nadal) was probably one guy who had always motivated me. It’s weird seeing these guys go.” However, this isn’t the first time that we’ve seen Kyrgios showcasing his respect for the ‘King of Clay.’

In 2022, the Aussie was spotted thanking Rafael Nadal after the latter heaped praise on the former’s potential to win every tournament in the future. During a pre-tournament press conference ahead of the United Cup, Rafael Nadal said, “He (Kyrgios) can win in any tournament that he’s playing. He has all the talent, the weapons to win against any player. Of course, he can.” Then, after hearing this, Nick Kyrgios highlighted that comment in a social media post with the caption, “Real know real.“

Nick Kyrgios is all set to make his much-awaited comeback to the Tour in the 2025 season. What are his objectives and missions for the next few years in his tennis career?

“I don’t want to be crawling to the finish line” – Nick Kyrgios doesn’t want to retire like Rafael Nadal

The 29-year-old Aussie turned pro in 2013 and in these eleven years, he has managed to win 7 titles in his career. Although he reached the finals of the Wimbledon in 2022, Nick Kyrgios is yet to win a Grand Slam title. Talking about his upcoming goals, Kyrgios was heard saying, “I have beaten pretty much every person that has been put in front of me, made a final of a Grand Slam, won a doubles title in a Grand Slam, won multiple titles, and made money. But I think the one thing that is now on my target is a Grand Slam. I think that will be the only thing that will shut people up at the end of the day.“

After seeing Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal retiring in the same year, he made an interesting comment in The Louis Theroux podcast. Talking about his own retirement plans, Nick Kyrgios stated, “I look at how Andy Murray’s doing it now, and how Rafael [Nadal] is going out, I don’t want to be like that either. I don’t want to be kind of crawling to the finish line in a sense.“

He strongly opined, “It’s like you’ve achieved everything. You deserve to go out, I think, a little bit more gracefully than he’s done. I think that the surgeries, the pain, it’s just not worth it, in my opinion.” Not only that, he also made another interesting comment while drawing a comparison between himself and the ‘Big 4’ in the tennis world.

Nick Kyrgios said, “I have played against the ‘Big 4’. My tennis IQ is higher than that of Djokovic, Federer, Nadal, and Murray.” Do you agree with this, though? Although some may differ a bit on this, he sounds quite confident about his abilities and his chances in the upcoming years. Do you think he can finish his career with at least one Major title?