{"id":362114,"date":"2024-01-23T06:27:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T07:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=362114"},"modified":"2024-01-23T14:04:07","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T14:04:07","slug":"djokovics-cheeky-mid-match-gag-with-kyrgios","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=362114","title":{"rendered":"Djokovic's cheeky mid-match gag with Kyrgios"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhe relationship between Novak Djokovic<\/a> and Nick Kyrgios<\/a> has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and the world No.1 showed why it is the top bromance in tennis during his clash against Taylor Fritz.<\/p>\n

Early on in the first set of his Australian Open quarter final<\/a>, Djokovic was prowling along the baseline and noticed the injured Kyrgios in Eurosport's box doing some commentary.<\/p>\n

Djokovic poked his tongue out at his Aussie rival and jokingly gestured for him to come out onto the court to take him on.<\/p>\n

LIVE:<\/strong> Australian Open 2024 day ten<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Tigers and exiled winger split after $300k payout<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussie skipper Pat Cummins opens up on Maxwell probe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The love fest continued during the tiebreaker in the first set when he blew a kiss to Kyrgios after lashing a backhand winner past an outstretched Fritz. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Novak<\/p>\n

The cheeky mid-match exchanges continued what has been a remarkable turnaround in the pair's relationship in recent years.<\/p>\n

\ufeffEarlier in his career, the outspoken Kyrgios made no secret of his disdain for the Serbian champion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I just feel like he has a sick obsession, wanting to be liked," the Aussie said of Djokovic on the No Challenges Remaining<\/em> podcast in 2019<\/p>\n

"He just wants to be like Roger (Federer). He just wants to be liked so much that I just can't stand him."<\/p>\n

Kyrgios also hit out at Djokovic's "very cringeworthy" post-match celebrations around the same time.<\/p>\n

\"Novak<\/p>\n

"What can I say to Nick Kyrgios? I really think he's not really a bad guy," Djokovic responded when speaking to SportsKlub later in 2019.<\/p>\n

"I do not know why he declares all these things, whether he wants to draw attention or some motive is different."\ufeff<\/p>\n

The relationship continued to sour as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, when Kyrgios referred to \ufeffDjokovic as a "tool" for what he deemed to be a "boneheaded decision" to organise the Adria Tour<\/a> as the pandemic spread and the world went into lockdown.<\/p>\n

However, it was the pandemic that flipped the relationship around just months later.<\/p>\n

As the tennis world piled on Djokovic when he was deported from Australia<\/a> ahead of the 2022 Australian Open due to his vaccination status, the Serb found an unlikely ally in Kyrgios.<\/p>\n

\"Djokovic-Kyrgios<\/p>\n

\ufeffKyrgios hit out at his country for treating Djokovic "really badly" during the ordeal, adding that "as a human, he's obviously feeling quite alienated in all of this" while speaking on the No Boundaries<\/em> podcast.<\/p>\n

The Australian revealed that Djokovic had messaged him privately thanking him for his support<\/a> when the rest of the locker room had seemingly turned on him.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine,<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a> and ad-free on<\/strong><\/em> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

As fate would have it, just months later the pair faced off in the Wimbledon final, where Kyrgios took a set off Djokovic before eventually losing in four.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Kyrgios was full of praise for the Serbian champion after the match, referring to him as a "God", while Djokovic declared his relationship with the Aussie as "officially a bromance"<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Kyrgios<\/p>\n

It remains unclear when Djokovic and Kyrgios will be on the court together again, with the timeline on the Aussie's return from a series of injuries still to be determined. Kyrgios said last week that he will skip Indian Wells and Miami in March and is hoping to make a comeback in time for Wimbledon this year.<\/p>\n

He also joked that he was simply hibernating in order to rack up some titles once Djokovic pulls up stumps on his incredible career.<\/p>\n

"I think when Novak decides to pack it all up you'll see a bunch of guys winning slams," he said in a recent interview.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"Secretly that's my tactic, I'm just waiting for Novak to go, then I'll go into hibernation, get in the best shape of my life, protected ranking. It's been my plan all along. Leave me alone Novak."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhe relationship between Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios has gone from strength to strength in recent years, and the world No.1 showed why it is […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":362116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=362114"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":362119,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362114\/revisions\/362119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/362116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=362114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=362114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=362114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}