Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s former opponent has decided which one is the GOAT.

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are tennis’ Big Three (Image: Getty)

Other than Andy Murray, not many players know Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal better than Nick Kyrgios, so the Australian’s opinions on the Big Three should be treated with a degree of respect.

All three players deserve their own category place in the exclusive club of men’s tennis legends, along with Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and many more.

Between them, Federer, Djokovic and Nadal have an incredible 66 Grand Slam titles – with the trio all surpassing 20 Majors in their illustrious careers.

But for Kyrgios, there is a clear leading candidate when it comes to taking the status of the greatest of all time – or ‘GOAT’ as it’s recently been declared.

The 29-year-old believes that Djokovic deserves his claim to the GOAT status – and bizarrely made his opinion clear with a goat-esque bleat when hearing the Serb’s name.

Kyrgios joined Nelson Parker and Reza Tompsett of Get Set Tennis for a game of word association, where he was asked to use one word to describe his fellow tennis pros.

The interviewer said: “Novak Djokovic” to which he replied: “GOAT, bahhh!”

It was another example of the Wimbledon 2022 finalist’s humour, which has made him a popular figure with fans in recent years.

Nick Kyrgios has named Novak Djokovic as the GOAT of tennis (Image: Getty)

Kyrgios then moved onto Federer, calling the Swiss “pretty” because he is “probably the most natural player to watch”. The Swiss legend, now 43, retired at the Laver Cup in 2022 with 20 Grand Slam titles to his name.

Most interestingly, he used “competitiveness” to describe Nadal, with no love lost between the pair after a row erupted at Wimbledon back in 2014.

Kyrgios has made no secret of his distaste for the King of Clay, revealing how he “hated and despised” the Spaniard ever since their first meeting at SW19.

While his feud with Nadal has shown no signs of ending, Kyrgios made amends with Djokovic later in his career after the duo’s fiery personalities inevitably clashed.

Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios played doubles together in Brisbane (Image: Getty)

Most recently, the Aussie fulfilled his promise to play alongside Djokovic in the doubles at the Brisbane International before he bowed out of the Australian Open. After a closely-contested match, it went to a decider where the Serbian’s double fault proved costly and they lost 6-2, 3-6, 10-8.

Their friendship blossomed when they met in the 2022 Wimbledon final, with Kyrgios revealing that Djokovic had messaged him a week before the championship decider saying he “hoped to see him” there.

When Djokovic ultimately claimed victory on the grass, he labelled his relationship with Kyrgios as “officially a bromance” and their friendship has remained strong ever since.

Even if Kyrgios may not be the most objective person to ask anymore, no player has won more than Djokovic’s 24 Slams. If he claims a 25th before his retirement, few could argue against the 37-year-old taking the GOAT label all for himself.