'I Couldn't Stand Him': Nick Kyrgios Makes MASSIVE Statement About Rafael Nadal

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has admitted that he couldn't stand Rafael Nadal during his playing days and used to hate and despise the Spanish legend when he used to walk around. The Aussie admitted that he didn't feel similarly for two other greats of the generation, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, as his 'hatred' was only reserved for Nadal.

Kyrgios arrived as a guest on a recent episode of the Nothing Major podcast, hosted by tennis players John Isner, Jack Sock, Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey.

During the episode, Kyrgios revisited his negative feelings towards Nadal, who finished a glorious career last month with 22 Grand Slams in his kitty.

"I couldn’t stand him. I used to hate and despise him so much when I saw him walking around. He was one guy who always motivated me. If I played him I would get up for it and try and get the best tennis I could play. I didn’t feel that anger towards Federer or Novak when I played them," Kyrgios said while speaking on the podcast.

Kyrgios said that his reason for disliking Nadal was how the latter was always spoken about in the tennis academies of Australia when Kyrgios was still a student.

"If I played Rafa because everyone in our academies back home idolised him, they were like he is such a hard worker, he’s this and that. I was like 'I can’t stand this guy'. I wanted to show people you could just have fun and be chilled and beat people like that," Kyrgios said.

The Australian tennis star faced Nadal nine times and won three of them. The latter once called Kyrgios out over what Nadal thought was a disrespectful act from the Aussie. An underarm serve from Kyrgios upset Nadal, as he was not ready to return.

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