Nick Kyrgios says Rafael Nadal's declaring grass his second-best surface and saying he preferred to play Novak Djokovic thereabsolutely makes sense since the Australian himself found the Spanish tennis icon's grass game as "ridiculous" when they played at Wimbledon.
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Very early in Spaniard's career, there were doubts if he would ever be able to figure out grass and be a threat there. Soon, the answer came after he finished as runner-up to Roger Federer in the 2006 and 2007 Wimbledon finals before beating the Swiss in the 2008 final at The All England Club.
While he wasn't able to defend his title at The Championships in 2009 due to an injury, Nadal continued where he left off when he returned and made two more Wimbledon finals in 2010 and 2011 - he beat Tomas Berdych in the 2010 final before losing toDjokovic in the 2011 final.
"My second best surface was grass. Without playing 2009, I played five (Wimbledon) finals in a row. Honestly, I preferred to play Novak on grass than on hard," the former two-time winner at the Championships told Andy Roddick during his appearance on the American's podcast.
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Kyrgios: Nadal on grass was ridiculous
Responding to the Spaniard's statement, the Australian fully agreed: "Honestly Rafa on grass was ridiculous - lefty serve, great hands - can confirm was a nightmare on hard as well."
While Nadal was beaten by Djokovic in their 2011 and 2018 Wimbledon meetings, they still split their four meetings on grass since the Spaniard beat the Serb at 2007 Wimbledon, as well as at the Queen's Club in 2008.
When it comes to Kyrgios who offered some high praise on the Soaniard's grass game, he famously upset the former 22-time Grand Slam champion in their 2014 Wimbledon meeting but lost in four sets when they met at the same place five years later.
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Nadal may have won only four titles on grass during his career but he three times finished as runner-up at Wimbledon and was also a semifinalist at The Championships on three other occasions.
