A chronology of all the words exchanged between Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios

Novak Djokovic yet again made his mark in the record books when he reached a record 32nd Major final following his win over home favorite Cameron Norrie in the semifinals of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships.

The 20-time singles Grand Slam champion is currently on a 27-match winning streak at Wimbledon and will face Nick Kyrgios in the Wimbledon final.

Kyrgios reached the first Slam final of his career after Rafael Nadal withdrew from their semis clash, citing an abdominal injury that he played with in his quarterfinals clash against Taylor Fritz.

The 27-year-old became the first player at Wimbledon and only the third player in the Open Era after Jim Courier and Steffi Graf to make it to the finals of a Slam after receiving a walkover in the semis.

Djokovic, who is currently a three-time defending champion at Wimbledon, has never won a single set against Kyrgios in their previous two encounters. They first faced each other at the 2017 Acapulco Open, where the Australian won 7-6(9) 7-5. The same year, they squared off at the Indian Wells, where the Aussie triumphed 6-4 7-6(3) in a Round of 16 clash.

Apart from the fact that Kyrgios has never lost a set to Djokovic, both men have exchanged a few words off-court, which have been blunt and at times unceremonious.

Here is a history of what the players have said to each other over the years.

2019 - Kyrgios' point-blank podcast

In the 'No Challenges Remaining' podcast interview, Nick Kyrgios gave his unfiltered views on Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. While he tagged Nadal as 'super salty,' the Australian said the following about Djokovic:

"I just feel like he [Djokovic] has a sick obsession, wanting to be liked. He just wants to be like Roger [Federer]. He just wants to be liked so much that I just can’t stand him. This whole celebration thing (blowing kisses to the crowd) that he does after matches, it’s like so cringeworthy. It’s very cringeworthy.”

Djokovic responded to these comments by saying that he "wasn't losing sleep" over Kyrgios' remarks.

In an interview with SportsKlub the same year, the two-time Career Slam champion also said:

"What can I say to Nick Kyrgios. I think he’s not really a bad guy. I do not know why he declares all these things, whether he wants to draw attention or some motive is different.”

The 2019 Wimbledon final was contested between Djokovic and Roger Federer. On the morning of the final, Kyrgios showed his support for the Swiss on social media.

2020 - Djokovic's Adria Tour

In May 2020, when the pandemic was at its peak, Kyrgios and Andy Murray took to Instagram for a live session, when the former said the Brit was a better player than Djokovic.

"I think you are better than Djokovic. Djokovic was playing dodgeball on my serve and you were slapping it for a winner. He was trying to dodge it, you were on it like a light," Kyrgios said.

In June/July that year, Djokovic organized an exhibition tennis tour when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak. Besides organizing a gathering of people in large groups, the players also partied and danced together.

"Prayers up to all the players that have contracted COVID-19. Don't @ me for anything that I have done that has been 'irresponsible' or classified as 'stupidity' - this takes the cake," Kyrgios said.

In the aftermath, Borna Coric, Grigor Dimitrov, Viktor Troicki, Goran Ivanisevic, Djokovic himself, and his wife Jelena Djokovic tested positive for COVID-19. Kyrgios described the Serb's decision to host the Adria Tour as "boneheaded."

Ahead of the 2020 US Open, Djokovic said that the level of criticism following the Adria Tour was "like a witch-hunt."

"Whether it’s fair or not, you tell me, but I know that the intentions were right and correct, and if I had the chance to do the Adria Tour again, I would do it again."

2021 - Heated off-court exchanges

Ahead of the 2021 Australian Open, Djokovic asked the Victoria Government to ease the quarantine restrictions.

Kyrgios responded through a tweet:

Reflecting on the Adria Tour in an interview with CNN, Kyrgios said:

"He is one of the leaders of our sport. He's technically our LeBron James in the way he has to be setting an example for all tennis players. When he was doing some of the things he was doing during the global pandemic, it just wasn't the right time. I know everyone makes mistakes, some of us go off track sometimes, and we have to hold each other accountable. We're colleagues at the end of the day; we compete against each other, we play in the same sport."

"No one else was really holding him (Djokovic) accountable. Everyone loses their way a little bit but I think he just needs to pull it back. I'm not doing any of this sort of stuff for media attention: these are the morals I've grown up with and I was just trying to do my part."

In January 2021, in an interview with the Herald Sun, Kyrgios said that Djokovic is not the greatest player of all time.

"No matter how many majors Novak wins, he will never be the greatest to me. I played against him twice, and if he can't beat me, you are not the greatest of all time.

During the 2021 Australian Open, when asked to respond to all the remarks Kyrgios made about him, Djokovic said:

"Off the court, I don’t have much respect for [Kyrgios], to be honest. That’s where I’ll close it. I really don’t have any further comments for him, his own comments for me, or anything else he’s trying to do."

Kyrgios was quick to respond.

"It’s a strange one for me, because, you know, I read his comments, he said he doesn’t respect me off the court. I’m, like, it actually would make complete sense to me if he was like, 'Look, I don’t respect the guy on the court', because I understand if he doesn’t agree with some of my antics on the court that I have done in the past. And when we’ve played matches I think I’ve actually been pretty good towards him," Kyrgios said.

But I’m not quite sure how he can’t respect me off the court. I feel like I’ve gone about things extremely well, especially during the pandemic I was – I mean, driving around delivering food to people during the pandemic that didn’t or couldn’t get the supplies. I was extremely careful about what I was doing. I didn’t want to spread the virus to anyone."

"But, yeah, he’s a very strange cat, Novak is. Heck of a tennis player, but unfortunately someone that’s partying with his shirt off during a global pandemic, I don’t know if I can take any slack from that man. That’s as bad as it gets for me," he added.

When Serbian media asked if he would love to settle things with Kyrgios in a tete-a-tete, Djokovic said:

"I really don’t want to comment on that too much because that is what he is looking for: some kind of debate, attention, who knows, but I am not going to give it to him because he does not deserve it. That is it. I do not feel the need nor do I feel we should sit and talk, I have absolutely no interest in the guy."

2022 - Healthier relations

Earlier this year, Djokovic was deported from Australia for not meeting the country's entry requirements for an unvaccinated traveler. However, Kyrgios was one of the few players who publicly supported the Serb.

After his fourth-round win against Tim van Rijthoven at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships, Djokovic was asked about his views on the Kyrgios-Tsitsipas feud that took place during their clash.

"With Kyrgios, you often see such situations on the field. It's always fun, and on the other hand, maybe not so much for his opponent. The fact is that it is him and whether someone likes him or not, he brings a lot of attention to tennis. I see that it is good that he attracts a group of young people who follow him, love and like him because he is different and plays like that - and I don't think that is bad for our sport. Maybe in some situations his comments on and off the pitch are debatable, but that's authentic Kyrgios - and I respect that," Djokovic said.

Ahead of their 2022 Wimbledon final, Kyrgios was asked about his relationship with the former World No.1 over the years.

"We definitely have a bit of a bromance now, which is weird. I think everyone knows there was no love lost for a while there. I felt like I was almost the only kind of player and someone to stand up for him with all that kind of drama at Australian Open," Kyrgios said.

I feel like that's where respect is kind of earned. Not on the tennis court, but I feel like when a real life crisis is happening and someone stands up for you. We actually message each other on DMs in Instagram now and stuff. It's real weird. Actually, like, earlier in the week, he was like, Hopefully I'll see you Sunday," he added.

The six-time Wimbledon Champion's response to Kyrgios' positive words on their healthier off-court relationship:

"I don't know if I can call it a bromance yet, but we definitely have a better relationship than what it was probably prior to January this year. But when it was really tough for me in Australia, he was one of the very few players that came out publicly and supported me and stood by me. That's something I truly appreciate. So I respect him for that a lot."