He’s the “bad boy of tennis” who’s been called the “most cretinous player” in the sport’s history, but Nick Kyrgios – or “Nasty Nick” – doesn’t care what you think.
“Umm… because I do what I want,” the hot-headed Australian replied on Sunday to a reporter asking him why he was breaking the strict all-white dress code. “It’s more attention for me. What’s that saying? Any publicity is good publicity, right?” He continued while brazenly wearing a red baseball cap to receive his runner-up trophy from the Duchess of Cambridge after losing 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbedon’s men’s final.
Although the weekend’s game was the 27-year-old’s first-time competing for a Grand Slam title, Kyrgios rose to prominence age 19 after defeating Rafael Nadal to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final in Wimbledon’s 2014 tournament - and has been on a rollarcoaster journey ever since.
He is the most fined player in the history of the sport, having racked up a staggering A$800,000 (£452,000) worth of fines in his career. Yet he’s also amassed over £8 million in prize money across singles and doubles, and won the Australian Open earlier this year. Currently, he is ranked No. 45 in the world and has a career-high No. 13 singles ranking.
Still, despite such impressive accolades, his former high school Radford College removed the sporting star from the school’s Hall of Fame following his on-court antics in 2015. While competing at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Kyrgios branded fellow Aussie Bernard Tomic ‘dumb’ and ‘irrelevant’, before telling Swiss Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka during play that his friend had ‘banged your girlfriend, mate’, earning him a £10,000 fine and 28-day suspension from play.
That’s not all. Also on his rap-sheet: spitting at a spectator, demanding the crowd fetch him a beer, mimicking lewd sex acts with his water bottle on live TV, refusing to use a tournament-branded towel and receiving the biggest fine of all time – an eye-watering $113,000 for a code of conduct violation in a 2019 clash with Karen Khachanov. The violation included smashing two rackets in a tunnel before walking back onto court, appearing to spit towards the official’s chair and refusing to shake umpire Fergus Murphy’s hand after accusing him of starting the 25-second shot clock too early.
This year’s Wimbledon tournament was no different. During Sunday’s titillating final, the controversial player threw a tantrum after he claimed a “drunk” woman was distracting him. Kyrgios went on to have her removed from Centre Court (she claimes she had two drinks and was simply “cheering him on”), before embroiling himself in the aforementioned red cap-gate.
The two meltdowns come after last Tuesday’s announcement that the player has been charged in Australia with assaulting ex-girlfriend Chiara Passari, which has left many wondering: has Kyrgios finally gone too far? He is due to appear in court in Canberra next month.
From his royal heritage to his on-court outbursts, here’s how the 27-year-old stormed the tennis world for all the right (and wrong) reasons.
His royal lineage and favourite childhood sport (spoiler: it’s not tennis)
Kyrgios was born in Canberra on April 27, 1995, as the third child to Greek father Giorgos, a self-employed house painter who moved to Australia as a teenager, and mother Norlaila, a former Malaysian princess who’s affectionately known as Nill.
Nill was born into the Selangor royal family and was a qualifying royal through her grandfather’s cousin, the Sultan of Pahang. However, she dropped her ‘Princess’ title when she moved to Australia in her twenties and instead became a computer engineer. She married Giorgos in 1988, and shares son Christos, daughter Halimah and tennis supremo Nick.
Despite barking at his player box about their apparent lack of support as Sunday’s match turned in favour of the Serbian tennis legend, Kyrgios is extremely close to his family. Giorgos, who goes by George, is ever-present in his son’s box throughout the tennis season but his mother, due to a cocktail of anxiety and ill-health, has stayed away from Kyrgios’ matches for years.
In September 2021 Kyrgios pulled out of every tournament remaining in that year to spend time at home with his mother, who was facing severe problems with her kidneys. Having been left scarred by the death of his grandmother, Julianah Foster, in 2014, Kyrgios often chooses to spend as much time as possible with family to ensure the regrets he holds towards his grandmother are not repeated.
“The week she passed away, I was supposed to go see her with Mum but I was pretty busy,’ Kyrgios, speaking candidly in 2015 after the passing of 74-year-old Julianah, said. “I just didn’t get to see her as much as I would have liked in the end. But I’m sure I could have just got a day off to see her. That’s what will live with me.”
He also has his parents to thank for his illustrious tennis career. Surprisingly, it was basketball that stole his heart first, not tennis, and were it not for the intervention of dad George and mum Nill, he may never have found his path to the Grand Slam at Wimbledon.
“When I was 14, they said I couldn’t play basketball anymore. It still hurts my heart,” said Kyrgios previously. “It was very hard for me to leave it to concentrate on tennis. I love basketball.” It quickly proved a decision well made when Kyrgios raced to become world No 1 in the juniors.
His mental health struggles and the sports legend who helped him overcome them
Underpinning his scandals has been a mental health battle that the player revealed earlier this year. “This was me three years ago at the Australian Open,’ began the remarkable confession on Kyrgios’ Instagram, where he shared a pensive picture of himself ahead of his Australian Open match with Rafael Nadal. “Most would assume I was doing OK mentally or enjoying my life… it was one of my darkest periods. If you look closely, on my right arm you can see my self harm.”
He continued: “I was having suicidal thoughts and was literally struggling to get out of bed, let alone play in front of millions. I was lonely, depressed, negative, abusing alcohol, drugs, pushed away family & friends. I felt as if I couldn’t talk or trust anyone. This was a result of not opening up and refusing to lean on my loved ones and simply just push myself little by little to be positive.’
Kyrgios’ mother recently revealed to the Sydney Morning Herald that two-time former Wimbledon winner Andy Murrary played a key role in discovering Kyrgios’ self-harm. She said: “The self-harming... I saw that and people told me that. I asked him about it and he didn’t want to talk about it at that time. John Morris (Kyrgios’s former manager) spoke to me that Andy is worried about Nick because he can see some evidence of self-harm.”
In his Instagram post, Kyrgios went on to state that he had completely turned himself around and had a new, healthier outlook on everything. “I don’t take one moment for granted. I want you to be able to reach your full potential and smile. This life is beautiful.”
In a post-match interview following Sunday’s defeat, the player also confessed he’s never truly felt good about his tennis career until making the final at Wimbledon. "I feel like if I had won today, I would have struggled with motivation," he added, making light of the loss. "I’ve been told my entire life winning Wimbledon is the ultimate achievement.”
Someone who understands the pressures of top tier tennis and the effect it can have on mental health is John McEnroe. Speaking to the BBC, he said: “I get a lot of what’s going on here more than most people. He’s a good kid, the players like him, he’s well liked in the locker room, he does a lot of charity work. But he’s got demons you know, in a way - we all have this fear of failure and it’s a question of how you best deal with it.” The famously volatile seven-time Grand Slam champion, added: “You know he’s sitting there and he’s obviously tortured in certain ways. [He’s] unbelievably talented, very smart.”
“The guy doesn’t need the coach, the guy is a genius out there the way he plays.”
Has Kyrgios finally gone too far?
Last Tuesday it emerged that the Australian tennis player has been summoned to appear in a Canberra on August 2 over allegations of common assault against his ex-girlfriend Chiara Passari.
Speaking to reporters after beating Chile’s Cristian Garin in straight sets in the quarter-finals on Wednesday, Kyrgios said he had "things I want to say" but had been advised not to by his lawyer.
The alleged incident took place in December 2021 as confirmed by police in Canberra, with Kyrgios being alleged to have grabbed Passari – with the charge carrying a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
His current girlfriend Costeen Hatzi, a Sydney-based influencer with nearly 100,000 Instagram followers, has publically stood by the athelete in light of the allegations.
The two have been dating for several months, with the couple going public with their romance in December 2021. Last Wednesday, the day day after News.com.au reported that Kyrgios has been charged with assault, Hatzi attended a practice session with the controversial athlete, and the two weren’t shy about packing on the PDA – something they also do on Instagram where Kyrgios has uploaded multiple selfies of the two under mushy captions exclaiming his love for the lifestyle business owner.
5 of the most controversial Nick Kyrgios moments
1. He stayed out drinking at the Dog & Fox the night before his second round encounter with Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon 2019.
2. Kyrgios told Wawrinka that his friend had “banged his girlfriend” during a match in 2015.
3. His $113,000 (£95,000) clash with umpire Fergus Murphy where he walked off the court, smashed two rackets and spat.
4. Kyrgios mimicked a lewd gesture with a water bottle at Queens in 2018. While facing the player’s box, he held the water bottle towards his groin and pretended to perform a sex act. He was fined €15,000 (£13,190).
5. At the Rogers Cup in 2019, he refused to use a tournament-branded towel and demanded he was given a white one instead.
