Former World No. 1 Boris Becker and Australian star Nick Kyrgios have been going back and forth with each other on various topics. Recently their dispute took a new turn as the German legend slammed Kyrgios on his comments that the game was "slow back then", and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic would "destroy" the best players from previous eras.
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In his recent interview with The Athletic, Kyrgios claimed that tennis has evolved indefinitely since Becker's era and players like him would not survive in today's game. Talking about the serve speeds, Kyrgios claimed that Djokovic could "eat you alive" on serving anything less than 220.
The 28-year-old said, "The game was so slow back then. I've watched Boris Becker and I'm not saying they weren't good in their time, but to say that they would be just as good now, it's absurd. A big serve back then was like 197 to 200 (km/h). People like me, serve 220 consistently, to corners.
"It's a whole different ball game. Serve and volley, to do it all the time now, you need to be serving 220 because if you serve anything less than 220, Djokovic eats you alive."
Becker Slams Kyrgios
Becker was not impressed with Kyrgios' comments and slammed the Australian by calling out his failure to win any major title in singles. The 56-year-old German also dragged Kyrgios' OnlyFans in his rant and took to X and wrote, "Nick makes a lot of noise about tennis lately!?! Why does he speak about a sport he apparently hates …fact-check Nick has never won a major championship as a player or coach( yes doubles 1) so where is any credibility coming from?"
He added, "Trying to compare generations… Laver v Federer , Borg v Nadal , Sampras v Djokovic!?! I am not even gonna mention McEnroe, Conners, Lendl Agassi, Courier, Edberg, Wilander, Kuerten, Bruguera, Rafter, Hewitt, and many more …speak to your @OnlyFans about many things but tennis 🎾!!!"
Later, Kyrgios continued the feud with Becker by responding to his social media posts and wrote, "Hahahaha this bloke speaking about credibility…… last I checked you were the one hiding assets no?"
In another reply, Kyrgios wrote, "Also I mean I’ve beaten, Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray so I feel like I have a little credibility…. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that Novak would wipe the floor against you in your prime? Like it’s not an attack. It’s just facts."
He added, "And I appreciate the@OnlyFans shoutout!!!! Got the Boris Becker speaking about the brand!!!! Always knew you kept up with my business collaborations."