Nick Kyrgios might have lost to world No. 1 Rafael Nadal last night, but it was such a thrilling match you could easily forget we weren’t even through to the quarter finals yet. Kyrgios put on a heroic effort, forcing Nadal to play at his absolute best in order to defeat him – and a few points the other way, it might have been a different story.
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Kyrgios went down fighting to Nadal 6-3 3-6 7-6 7-6, playing a superb game off the back of the longest match of his career (a four-hour-and-26-minute match against Russia’s Karen Khachanov). It also came just hours after Kyrgios learned of the sudden, tragic death of his hero Kobe Bryant; the 24-year-old tennis star walked out in a Lakers No. 8 jersey.
“It’s horrible news,” Kyrgios said after the match, fighting back tears.
“If anything, it motivated me. If you look at the things he stood for, what he wanted to be remembered by, I felt like, if anything, it helped me tonight. When I was down a break in the fourth, I was definitely thinking about it. I fought back.”
Prior to the Australian Open, Kyrgios galvanised Tennis Australia to throw its support behind bushfire relief. He himself promised to donate $200 for every ace he served throughout the tournament, and according to the Daily Telegraph, he hit 100 aces. It means he’s now up to donate $20,000.
I’m kicking off the support for those affected by the fires. I’ll be donating $200 per ace that I hit across all the events I play this summer. #MoreToCome #StayTuned
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 2, 2020
.@NickKyrgios didn’t win but he continued his legendary work around the #AustralianBushfires 👏👏👏 #AusOpen #AO2020 pic.twitter.com/yHs9vAxo9C
— Telegraph Sport (@telegraph_sport) January 27, 2020
On top of that, Grill’d Burgers promised to double his donation and Sportsbet promised to donate $1,000 for every ace. If everyone comes through, that’s an additional $140,000 for bushfire relief.
Grill’d told PEDESTRIAN.TV it will be paying $200 for every ace Kyrgios serves, including his doubles matches, meaning the total donation could be even higher.
“The amount will be paid as soon as the AO has finished, and we have a final tally,” a spokesperson said.
Sportsbet has yet to reply for a request for comment.
This summer has seen a different, more mature side of Kyrgios, which has been remarked upon by almost every tennis commentator and armchair expert you can find.
“Yeah, I feel like I’ve made progress as a human. A tennis player, I don’t really care about as much,” Kyrgios continued in his post-match interview.
“But yeah, I mean, I feel good. Obviously today was horrendous, like the news [of Kobe’s death]. But I want to keep going in this direction, for sure.”
