TOP SECRET FILE: K1NGKYRG1OS

Name: Nicholas “Nick” Hilmy Kyrgios (a.k.a. Wild Thing, Box Office, Australia’s most misunderstood tennis player, and Captain Bagrat’s Prince of Darkness)

Scale of Notoriety:

4/5 – love him or hate him, with his groundbreaking debut, his authenticity, and his unique playstyle, Nick Kyrgios has made his mark as one of Australia’s most iconic players. After all, how many tennis players do you know can beat Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal more than once? Not many, that’s what.

Scale of Influence:

4/5 – despite his rough edges, the man’s a big softie. Nick Kyrgios is a massive supporter of several charities, and also took the lead in helping out Australia during the 2020 bushfires, pledging $200 for every ace he served during the summer and inspiring many other Australian tennis players to do the same.

https://youtu.be/wRscZpD0G8M

Birthdate: April 27, 1995

Target Status: Alive and smashing aces in Nassau, Bahamas (born in Canberra, Australia)

Background: Beginning tennis at the tender age of six, Nick Kyrgios started focusing seriously on the sport at age fourteen, eventually getting a scholarship two years later at Australian Institute of Sport. During his training, he relocated for some time to Melbourne Park to further develop his tennis skills, before finally returning to his hometown Canberra.

Nick Kyrgios’s career took off in 2013, where he would make his mark as one of Australia’s greatest and most promising tennis players when he won the boys' singles event at the 2013 Australian Open and the boys' doubles event at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships. The following year Nick Kyrgios reached the quarterfinals of the 2014 Wimbledon Championships – by winning matches against Rafael Nadal and Richard Gasquet, of all people – and the quarterfinals of the 2015 Australian Open. Since then, Nick Kyrigos has made a glowing reputation for himself, though is equally infamous for the many fines he receives for his on-court conduct.

Genetic Make-up: Nick Kyrgios was born in Australia to a Greek dad and Malaysian mum of Malay heritage. On his mum’s side, he’s also descended from Malaysian royalty – she was a member of the Selangor royal family (specifically a Princess of Pahang) before giving up her title in her 20s to live in Australia. However, there’s no bad blood between them as the Kyrgios family maintains a close relationship with maternal family members and also take great pride in their Malay roots.

Strengths

● Show Pony – When Nick Kyrgios steps onto the court, the only thing on his mind is coming out on top. Add on top of that his flair and natural talent, and it’s no wonder he’s such a huge crowd favourite.

● Killer Serves – One booming serve from this man is enough to take a match away. With 75% accuracy, speeds up to 220km/h, proficiency in any serve and an unpredictable stance, he’s bound to leave his opponents shaken to the core.

● Team Player – While he doesn’t often get to play in a group, he’s nothing but supportive and encouraging when he does, and always puts in his all to help his team win.

Weaknesses

● Fiery Temper – While some players have their off-days, the amount of fines Nick Kyrgios gets for his meltdowns will make anyone do a double take. The fine he got at the 2019 Cincinnati Masters tournament in particular cost him a whopping $113,000 – an ATP record!

● Easily Lonely – He’s surprisingly not as into tennis as his fans might expect, and a large part of that is because tennis isn’t really a team sport. He also gets homesick if he’s away from family for too long, so they take turns accompanying him for different tournaments.

Special Talents: Did you know Nick Kyrgios is also great at basketball? In his early teen years he actually considered making it big in b-ball, before he decided to solely focus on tennis. He’s still a big hoops guy though, and can often be spotted on any of Canberra’s public basketball courts practising his skills. Which is a good thing too, because, if he didn’t, he probably wouldn’t have seen JJ’s dazzling three-pointer...and then try to woo her by ordering the same drink – coconut water!

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Nadya Labiba is an Indonesian-Australian currently in her fourth year of Journalism and Languages and Cultures at University of Technology Sydney. Aside from interning at Captain Bagrat, Nadya is an avid community volunteer and a published contributor at Central News.

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