Nick Kyrgios is like a lot of other tennis fans—he idolizes Roger Federer. Speaking to Rajina Dhillon of the Rakyat Post in Malaysia while playing the Malaysian Open this week, the 20-year-old Aussie says that Federer is not only the greatest of all-time, but a role model to him.

Read the full article about Kyrgios in the Rakyat Post Here

“I remember watching him (Federer) play. I still watch him a lot when I’m in my room doing nothing,” he said, according to the interview. “I would just go on YouTube and watch him. I think he’s the greatest of all time. He’s the one role model I have, off the court as well because of the way he carries himself, helping people.”

Kyrgios, who spent time practicing with Federer last year in Switzerland before he became a household name (for reasons good and bad both), also elaborated on much-publicized comments which he made recently about his preference for basketball rather than tennis.

As a successful athlete in both sports, Kyrgios eventually had to choose one to specialize in. It’s here where his story differs from his mother Norlaila’s.

“My parents drove me towards tennis a lot,” he said. “I’ve come a long way from where I was around six years ago, so I don’t regret the choice at all,” said the World No. 41.

His mother says that ultimately, Nick had to make a choice.

“In the end, I told Nick he had to commit to at least one. So, he had to choose whether it was tennis or basketball and give that one choice his 100%,” she told the Rakyat Post. “And then if he didn’t like one, no questions asked — he could give it up and go on to the next one.”

Whether it was Nick’s choice or his mom’s, the good news is that Kyrgios says he doesn’t regret the choice. Whether or not he’ll start to embrace tennis more is another question. In June he was whistling a far different tune. "I don’t really like the sport of tennis that much,” he told British Press prior to Wimbledon. “I don’t love it. It was crazy when I was 14. I was all for basketball and I made the decision to play tennis.”

Kyrgios will face hard-serving Ivo Karlovic in the quarterfinals at Kuala Lumpur on Friday. The Aussie is of Malaysian descent, and is having a good time getting in touch with his roots in a country that he has visited regularly since he was a child.

“I feel really comfortable coming here, being here,” he said. “It’s my sixth time I’m here and I have a lot of family here as well.”