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Nick Kyrgios believes he would have been a multiple Grand Slam champion had he avoided playing in "the era of prime Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray."
When Kyrgios, who is 28 years old, appeared on the tennis scene around a decade ago, the Big Four were absolutely dominating the Grand Slam level. In the next couple of years, several of Kyrgios' Grand Slam runs ended following a defeat to a Big Four member.
Early in his career, Kyrgios stunned Nadal at 2014 Wimbledon but also lost to Murray in the 2015 Australian Open quarterfinal and 2016 Wimbledon round-of-16, respectively. Over the last couple of years, Kyrgios also lost to Federer at the 2018 US Open and was also beaten by Nadal at the 2019 Wimbledon and the 2020 Australian Open.
In 2022, Kyrgios was scheduled to meet Nadal in the Wimbledon semifinal but received a free pass into the final at The Championships after the Spaniard gave him a walkover due to an abdominal injury. In his first Grand Slam final, Kyrgios competed extremely well against Djokovic but still ended up losing in four sets.
"I wish I wasn't playing in era of prime Murray, prime Federer, prime Nadal, and prime Djokovic, I would have had a couple of Slams under my belt," Kyrgios said in a video for the Australian Open.
Kyrgios on 'the craziest thing' in tennis
This week, "Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios" premiered as the Australian tennis star sat down with celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay. During their conversation, Kyrgios spoke about tennis players sharing the same locker room and explained why he believes it is "the craziest thing" in tennis.
"The thing about tennis is that everyone thinks it’s individual right, but then it’s like we shower, like all the athletes shower together, we eat together. So, we’re seeing these people like minutes before we walk out to the arena which is the craziest thing in the sport," Kyrgios said on Good Trouble with Nick Kyrgios.
As an example, Kyrgios mentioned how he and Daniil Medvedev pretty much did everything together before and after their 2022 US Open round-of-16 match.
Before the match, they were doing all pre-match rituals together since they were sharing the same locker room. After the match, they found themselves being the only two people in the locker room and again doing everything together, from undressing to showering.