Watch: Nick Kyrgios to display his skills on the hoop as he competes in a star-studded basketball match for charity
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Nick Kyrgios
Nick Kyrgios, a big basketball lover, will put down his tennis racket and join other celebrities on the floor for a basketball match organized by the Kings basketball team to raise money for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
In the Starlight Celebrity Game, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and 2GB breakfast show and television celebrity Ben Fordham will lead opposite teams. Perrottet and Fordham will head a cast that includes some of Australia’s most well-known athletes, entertainers, and politicians.
Studio 10 anchor Tristan McManus, Channel Nine personality Belinda Russell, actor Dan Ewing, and former Miss Universe Australia 2020 will also be in attendance. Radio personalities Michael “Wippa” Wipfli and Jimmy Smith of SEN, as well as prominent Australian hip hop singer and Kings fan L-Fresh, will take the court. Brad Rosen, a former Kings player, and Jamie Soward, a former NRL player, will also be on the court.
News Corp’s basketball journalist Matt Logue and television personality Jo Healy will represent the media, with Jo Healy also carrying the weight of carrying the MVP award from the last celebrity game. Shane “The Hammer” Heal and Steve “Mr. Magic” Carfino, two of the Kings’ all-time greats, will be tasked with coaching the two teams.
A number of more prominent names are likely to be revealed soon. The Starlight Celebrity Game will be a perfect start to what will be a big basketball festival for NSW, with the Kings against Hawks match including the return of previous Kings players as well as the presentation of the Ring of Honour award.
What is next for the rising potential Nick Kyrgios?
Kyrgios’ whole life is spent on the ATP tennis circuit, traveling the world and competing at the greatest level, yet his life outside of the sport he plays professionally is spent playing basketball. He’ll be wearing his favourite NBA jersey, a gold necklace, and a pair of Air Jordan 1s while training for a Grand Slam, and his 6-foot-4 stature will nearly seem like an NBA star hitting a racquet.
On the decorum-filled tennis court, Kyrgios’ swagger can almost appear out of place, but as he sees it, he’s blending his two passions — the sport he plays professionally and the game that’s absorbed him from the start. When asked to comment on his hobby and love for basketball, the Aussie said, “I kind of model my life you know, the way I dress, the way I kind of act and the way I go about on the tennis courts, it’s so basketball-like and I feel like that was something that I wanted to do was bridge the gap between tennis and basketball,” he comments.
“When I started wearing the NBA jerseys, now every second player is wearing an NBA jersey on the tennis court and we all know who started that trend,” said the Wimbledon quarterfinalist smiling.
Nick Kyrgios is also a huge tennis enthusiast and had strong relationships with a number of tennis players, including Naomi Osaka, with whom he was particularly close, and with whom he just liked to assist. Even though tennis was not his sport, he was always willing to lend a hand. He acted as if he was attempting to comprehend the game, and he enjoyed it.
When asked to speak about tennis and his love for basketball, Kyrgios said, “I’ve figured out that tennis is only such a small window in my life and time is running out and I’m trying to make the most of it while I can, but at the same time, want to go about it the right way and maybe at times when I was younger, that got the best of me. But now, seeing all these things happening to Kobe Bryant passing away and see what he was trying to do for the sport and just for people in general, that’s how I wanted to carry myself. So now I just go out there and try and be how he would be.”
One thing is certain: a basketball will accompany him when he packs his luggage for the next Grand Slam. Let’s hope to see him in a Grand Slam packing a punch with his skills also attained from Basketball.
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Harini Mahesh
(159 Articles Published)