Djokovic dismisses any controversy with Kyrgios

Hardly a day goes by without Nick Kyrgios being in the news. This time though, someone was doing the talking for him.

Speaking to Serbian press on Thursday, Novak Djokovic addressed Nick Kyrgiosafter the Australian slammed him in a podcast a few weeks ago.

In the No Challenges Remaining episode, Kyrgios made negative comments about Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic said that he thinks Kyrgios is "not a bad guy." The world No. 1 shared that he offered to help Kyrgios five years ago because he relates to the 24-year-old's struggle with public criticism.

"I suffered a lot of criticism at my own expense and went through similar situations," Djokovic said. "I don't know, from that moment something changed, and that's that."

While Kyrgios said the Serbian is an "unbelievable player" and "champion of the sport, one of the greatest," he also added, "I’m sorry, but if you can’t beat me, you’re not the greatest of all time."

Kyrgios also criticized the 15-time Grand Slam champion's off-court persona.

"I just feel like he has a sick obsession with wanting to be liked. He just wants to be like Roger [Federer]," Kyrgios said. "For me personally—I don’t care right now, I’ve come this far—I feel like he just wants to be liked so much that I just can’t stand him."

Djokovic said Kyrgios never addressed him privately on any of these matters.

"I do not know why he said all these things, whether he wants to draw attention or has some other motives," Djokovic said. "Obviously, he wants to be honest, open, transparent—that's part of his character. I respect him, and respect everyone, what can I do? I don't have a problem with that, he can say whatever he wants."

While Djokovic is not playing any warm-up events before Wimbledon, Kyrgios fell in the second round of Queen's Club to Felix Auger-Aliassime on Thursday.