Nick Kyrgios says familiarity makes it ‘hard to get an edge’ over rivals – ‘I have to see this person all day’

Nick Kyrgios has told chef Gordon Ramsey how hard it is to “get an edge” in tennis due to the familiarity and close proximity among players.

Kyrgios’ career highlights include reaching the Wimbledon final in 2022, where he lost to Novak Djokovic, and winning the Australian Open doubles title the same year with Thanasi Kokkinakis.

His first guest on the show was world-renowned chef Ramsey, and Kyrgios told him about some of the challenges of elite-level tennis compared to other sports.

“The thing about tennis is everyone thinks it’s individual, but then we shower all together, we eat together, so we see these people minutes before we walk out into the arena, which is the craziest thing in sport,” said Kyrgios.

“Usually you have separate locker rooms and you don’t see this person all day, you are trying to kill this person. So for instance at last year’s US Open me and [Daniil] Medvedev are about to go out there and we’re just in the locker room watching the previous match finish and we are getting our stuff together and we go to play.

“Then we just come right back into the locker room, get undressed, shower, and then we are the only two people in the locker room, and I have to see this person all day.

“So it’s not like a team environment but it feels like you’re doing the same thing because it’s like ‘I’ve just played in front of millions of people against this guy for hundreds and thousands of dollars, and now I have to shower next to him’.”

Kyrgios has been seen as one of the more combustible players on tour at times during his career.

He has had explosive run-ins with umpires, fans and several other players.

But he says the way tennis works makes it challenging in terms of trying to get one over an opponent.

“It’s so hard to find that balance,” Kyrgios added.

“I’ve always been a team environment guy. I love basketball, soccer, all that type of stuff. But tennis is so crazy like that, it’s hard to get an edge.

“We spend hours and hours together. I was talking to his [Medvedev’s] coach before we walked out there [at the US Open].”