Nick Kyrgios has once again admitted that he never thought being friends with Novak Djokovic was possible but now they “send ridiculous memes” to each other and have a great relationship on and off the court.
If you remember well, the Australian tennis star didn’t like the record 24-time Grand Slam champion in the past, calling him out several times and once even ripping him as “a tool.”
But after the 37-year-old was detained by the Australian authorities during that infamous visa saga, it was the former world No. 13 who stood up for the Serb and slammed his country for what he thought was unfair treatment. From that moment on, the relationship between the two completely changed.
Since then, the biggest match of Kyrgios’ career also came against Djokovic – he was beaten by the former world No. 1 in the 2022 Wimbledon final.
“The fact that I played a Slam final with Novak at Wimbledon is crazy, because we’re so different that now we’re like friends and it’s amazing and I get to hit with him and help him, it’s pretty cool. Yeah, it’s crazy. I never thought that I’d be really good friends with Novak Djokovic at all, and it’s not just on the courts. It’s like, we text each other, we send ridiculous memes and all this stuff on Instagram,” Kyrgios said on the Tennis Insider Club.
Kyrgios was furious with the Australian authorities
After arriving in Melbourne for the 2022 Australian Open, Djokovic wasn’t allowed to proceed to Melbourne Park because he was unvaccinated. At the time, the Serb argued that he was granted a medical exemption before flying to the country and that it was absolutely unfair to be holding him in detention.
While the Djokovic saga was making all the headlines and the tennis great being detained in an immigration hotel, he received some strong public support from Kyrgios.
“Look I definitely believe in taking action. I got vaccinated because of others and for my mum’s health, but how we are handling Novak’s situation is bad, really bad. Like these memes, headlines, this is one of our great champions but at the end of the day, he is human. Do better,” the Australian tweeted at the time.
In another post, he added: “I feel quite embarrassed as an Australian athlete that’s seen what this guy has done for us and the sport. I just don’t think it’s right how we’re handling it but the media loves to do that, loves to divide and I don’t want this to take away from any of the great results the other Australians are having.”
What Kyrgios revealed about Djokovic and how the Serb’s family reacted?
When asked what prompted his decision to publicly speak about the matter and be heavily on the Serb’s side, the 29-year-old noted that he knew how it felt to have “the world against you” and also shared that the 2022 Wimbledon champion personally reached out to him to ask some questions because he needed some help and guidance.
“Novak has reached out to me personally over Instagram to say thank you for standing up for him, I was not the one he was expecting to go out in the media and have his back. I think he’s obviously feeling quite alienated in all of this and as a human it’s a dangerous place to be when you feel like the world is against you and you can’t do anything right and all he wants to do is come here and play tennis. I think on a human level he needs some support from other tennis players.” Kyrgios shared at the time.
While the Australian tennis star was throwing his support behind Djokovic in Australia, the Serb’s family was holding protests in Belgrade and they were demanding “justice.” During one of those protests, the 37-year-old’s father publicly acknowledged Kyrgios’ help and expressed his gratitude.
Although the record 10-time Australian Open champion ultimately wasn’t allowed to compete in Melbourne that year, his family didn’t forget the Australian tennis player’s efforts. And a couple of months later, Djokovic’s brother Djordje invited the 29-year-old to Serbia so he could be their guest.
“I want to bring Nick Kyrgios to Belgrade, to thank him for supporting Novak, Belgrade and Serbia. He is an entertainer, he doesn’t mince his words and he will always express his opinion, whatever it may be. But above all, he is a serious athlete and tennis player. I hope that he will come to the Serbia Open before he finishes his tennis career,” Djordje Djokovic said on Serbian TV in mid 2022.
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