Kyrgios and Bublik were in awe of one of Djokovic’s abilities during their matches against the Serb.

© Getty Images Sport – Julian Finney

Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik candidly opened up about the struggles of facing Novak Djokovic as both lamented how it was “crazy” and “insane” to deal with the Serb’s returns and his ability to perfectly read everything.

In 2022, Kyrgios was playing outstanding at Wimbledon and he ended up making his first Grand Slam singles final. As a reward, Kyrgios got to play Djokovic, who had six titles at The Championships at the time.

And Kyrgios came to play since he was dropping massive serves and being competitive in rallies against Djokovic. But even though the Australian won the opening set and kept playing at a very high level for the remainder of the match, he still somehow didn’t win a set in the remainder of the match as the Serb completed a 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6 (3) win.

During the match, Kyrgios fired 30 aces and made 73 percent of his first serve but Djokovic still found a way to earn four break points and realize two of them.

“I served 75 percent of first serves and Novak broke me three times,” Kyrgios said on the UTS Tour podcast during his conversation with Alexander Bublik and Patrick Mouratoglou.

After the final, Kyrgios earned massive praise for his performance and some went as far as to state that the Australian would have 100 percent won that day if anyone other than Djokovic was his opponent.

“It’s just I couldn’t serve any better…” Kyrgios remarked.Nick Kyrgios© Getty Images Sport – Julian Finney

Bublik on Djokovic: It’s just insane…

After Kyrgios very honestly admitted how he felt about Djokovic’s returning abilities, world No. 26 Bublik did the same. While Bublik has been around for a long time, he has only once played Djokovic so far – he lost 3-6 4-6 to the Serb in their Davis Cup meeting in 2021. But that one match was enough for the four-time ATP champion to learn everything he needed to know about Djokovic’s returning abilities.

“The problem with Novak, I played him only once, but I was watching a lot of his matches. Every time there is a break point, or something close to, he plays… You just can’t ace him. He knows where you serve. I played him in the Davis Cup, semis I think or quarters we played, so it was one of the deciding matches and then it was like four all, three all, and then every time was 30 all, he is everywhere… I serve down the T’s the best serve slice and then it’s not he’s only there… I haven’t played him in so (many matches) so I wouldn’t say, I wouldn’t come to at all, but I’m just saying that it’s insane. And his practice was insane. Like every time, if there is a point he hits there,” Bublik explained.

Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Bublik© Getty Images Sport – Clive Brunskill

While Bublik was breaking down all of this, Kyrgios interrupted a couple of times to make it clear he completely agreed with the points that the Kazakh was making.

Kyrgios on Djokovic returning his serve bombs: It’s ridiculous…

Further reflecting on the final, Kyrgios admitted he didn’t know if there was anything more he could have done that day and seemingly agreed with the claim that he probably would have the 2022 Wimbledon final if Djokovic wasn’t his opponent.

“I mean the final, I don’t think I could have done much more, like… I played pretty solid I played a bad tie-break in the fourth set. I mean, got broken up at four all in the third set at 40 love. It’s ridiculous. So we get broken up 40 love on grass… Something has gone wrong in my head, not tennis-wise, in my head. That was tough. I think if I played like Rafa or something in the final. I would have been fine I think,” Kyrgios said.

Coach Mouratoglou then asked Kyrgios if all of that made him more motivated after the final.

“No, i was crying (laughs),” Kyrgios said, before adding: “Yeah, I got motivated, I don’t know…”

Mouratoglou then clarified he meant to ask it he felt like he could win a Grand Slam.

“Yeah, it was right there, yeah. But like, he is, he is different though… He had what? 30 finals like… And that was my first. So experience, he was never fazed at all. He is so good,” Kyrgios concluded.

Meanwhile, Kyrgios missed the 2023 and 2024 Wimbledon editions due to knee and wrist surgery. In recent weeks, Kyrgios indicated that he is progressing extremely well and that he should be back in action in the very near future.