Nick Kyrgios does not believe he will need to “try 100 per cent” to beat world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in a new “battle of the sexes” match to be played in Hong Kong in the lead-up to the Australian Open.
Kyrgios, who has not played any tennis since the Miami Open in March this year, has reportedly arranged a match against Sabalenka that will see the two go head-to-head in a showdown reminiscent of the famous contest between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973.
The 30-year-old Australian revealed the plans in a YouTube interview with fellow ATP Tour player Alexander Bublik, where he declared Sabalenka, a three-time grand slam singles champion was “not going to beat me”.
“Obviously, we’re the same agency me and Sabalenka. She’s awesome, by the way. Getting to know her, she’s definitely a character, but I’m super excited for that,” Kyrgios said.
“She’s the type of player that she genuinely thinks she’s going to win… She’s not going to beat me.”
When Bublik suggested the match could be more of an exhibition, where neither player tries too hard, Kyrgios replied: “Do you really think I have to try 100 per cent? [I will] definitely [try] because I’m representing I guess you, the men’s side. I would say, like, 6-2.”
When Kyrgios was pressed on why he was so confident he would win, and where he felt his strengths would lie against Sabalenka, he said it was “Our serves… women can’t return, and then we can just chip and drop shot.”
It was a more assured response from Kyrgios than when he had previously discussed the proposed match against Sabalenka on talkSport in July, when he admitted to being “nervous” because his opponent is “in her absolute prime”. Even on that occasion, though, he backed himself to win.