Outspoken Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios made a bold statement a few days ago when he claimed that Great Britain’s Andy Murray “is so much better than Novak Djokovic”.

Kyrgios was speaking ahead of the 2019 Australian Open after Murray revealed that he would likely retire in 2019 due to hip troubles.

Via a column for The Guardian, Kyrgios claimed that Murray should have achieved more than Djokovic in his career.

“I always tell him, I look at Djokovic, I look at how many grand slams he has won and the results he has had and I’m just thinking … I always tell him: ‘Dude, you’re so much better than Djokovic, you should have a way better career.’ I give him shit about it all the time,” Kyrgios wrote.

Kyrgios also said it was tougher for him to face Murray than players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

“When I played Roger, when I played Rafa, I wasn’t as scared of those guys as I was of Andy. I knew that his game was a lot tougher for a guy like me to play, I knew he was going to make a lot of balls, so I felt so young when I played him the first couple of times. I didn’t really believe in my physicality.” 

There’s no doubt Murray has had a storied career – he boasts three Grand Slam titles and 45 ATP Tour titles – but to say that he’s much better than Djokovic is taking things a little too far.

Djokovic, who like Murray is 31 years, has won 14 Grand Slams and 72 career titles. He’s also won 32 Masters 1000 titles compared to Murray’s 14.

The current world No 1 has an 839-176 win-loss record on the ATP Tour, while Murray is 663-191.

Djokovic also has a 25-11 win-loss record in matches against Murray on the ATP Tour.

We feel there are reasons why Djokovic has had more impressive results than Murray and we’ll explain why Kyrgios’ statement is somewhat off the mark.

Both players move incredibly well and are no doubt some of the best defenders the game has ever seen.

Djokovic however moves a tad more smoothly across the court and his ability to slide and stretch on a hard court is unmatched.

Throughout his career, Djokovic has also showed more willingness to attack with Murray more content on playing a retrieving game. Djokovic also boasts a more aggressive return of serve than Murray which aids the Serb in moving up the court sooner in rallies.

Comparing the two players’ serve we feel the Murray first serve is stronger, but the Scot’s relatively weak second serve has often let him down in the past.

Both players have exceptional volley skills and could do with coming in to the net more often.

Overall, we feel the Scot has played slightly more tentative than the Serb and it’s part of the reason why the one player has won 11 more major titles.

Djokovic also has a winning head to head record against Federer and Nadal, while Murray has losing record against both those other two greats.

Murray was an exceptional player and can no doubt feel proud of his achievements playing in an era of arguably the three best ever tennis players.

The article is by no means aimed at taking a dig at Murray, we just feel Nick Kyrgios was wrong when he claimed than Andy Murray is much better than Novak Djokovic…

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