Nick Kyrgios preferred basketball to tennis growing up in Canberra, but the family man took his parents' advice... after personal battles with alcohol, drugs and suicide, the sport's bad boy is just ONE match away from winning his first ever Grand Slam
- On Sunday, Nick Kyrgios will play in the Wimbledon final at All England Club for the first time in his career
- Kyrgios grew up in Canberra as the third child of a Greek father and Malaysian mother, who was once royalty
- The Australian's first love was basketball but his parents told him he had to persist with tennis and it worked
- He was once world No 1 in juniors and put his childhood days, where he was out of shape, firmly behind him
- Kyrgios has battled back from suicidal thoughts and self-harming, which plagued him three years ago
'I want to be remembered as someone who just did it their way,' Nick Kyrgios told Brisbane's Courier Mail, 'never conformed to these rules that society or the tennis world wants you to fit in.'
Maverick. Individualist. Free spirit. Unorthodox. All labels that can be placed around Kyrgios' neck.
And for a long time they were remarks used in the pejorative sense. A supreme talent wasting his gift. Why is he not training more? Why is he not playing more? Why has he never made it past a Grand Slam quarter-final? Why does he insist on all the histrionics? Why doesn't he love the sport like many less talented players on Tour? Why, why, why.
For many, least of all Kyrgios himself, reaching a Wimbledon final, where he will take on 20-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic on Centre Court, was a day they never thought would come.
It was only three years ago at the Australian Open when the noise, scrutiny, pressure and anxiety penetrated Kyrgios' psyche and pushed him to the brink of suicide.
'This was me three years ago at the Australian Open,' Kyrgios began a remarkable confession on Instagram, sharing a picture, before he played Rafael Nadal in Melbourne.
Nick Kyrgios has gone from a fun-loving kid from Canberra to a Wimbledon finalist for the first time in his tennis career
The outspoken Australian has battled against mental health problems and use of drugs and drink to reach a Grand Slam final
'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.
'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, for all his faults, is a dedicated family man and often reduces his time spent on the tennis tour to be close to dad George and mum, Nill.
But three years ago he was spent, exhausted, out of ideas and out of energy.
'I'm proud to say I've completely turned myself around,' he added, 'and have a completely different 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.'
Kyrgios' life, from his upbringing in Canberra to living in a $1.6million penthouse in Kensington, Sydney, with influencer girlfriend Costeen Hatzi, has been in stark contrast to the privilege bestowed on many who run the show on the ATP Tour.
Kyrgios is a dedicated family man and he is very close with his mother Nill (left), who once held a royal title as a princess back in her native home of Malaysia
Kyrgios was born in Canberra on April 27, 1995, as the third child to Greek father Giorgios, a self-employed house painter that moved to Australia as a teenager, and Malaysian mother Norlaila, affectionately known as Nill.
Giorgios, who goes by George, is an 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 now.
His mother was born into the Selangor royal family in Malaysia, a qualifying royal through the cousin of her grandfather - the Sultan of Pahang.
That made Norlaila the Tengku of Pahang, which is closely translated to make her the princess of the Pahang state.
It was not until moving to Australia in her twenties, where she went on to become a computer engineer before raising three children, did she drop her royal title.
The couple settled and married in 1988, going on to have son Christos, daughter Halilah and lastly, tennis supremo Nick.
Family is central to who Kyrgios is as a person – even when he is seen barking at them for not celebrating or supporting him as he wants them to.
Take September 2021 when Kyrgios chose to pull out of every tournament remaining in that year to spend time at home with his mother.
She was ill, facing severe problems with her kidneys, and having been left scarred by the death of his grandmother, Julianah Foster, in 2014. Kyrgios, to some controversially so, has tennis far down his list of priorities.
'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.'
So, as his mother battles her own health complications – she is hopeful of securing a kidney transplant from husband George if they are a match – Kyrgios often chooses to spend as much time as possible with family to ensure the regrets he holds towards his grandmother are not repeated.
Nill (right) and his father George (left) urged Kyrgios to focus on tennis, rather than basketball, when he was a youngster
Kyrgios (in yellow) is the couple's third - and youngest - child, following his older brother Christos and sister Halilah (both left)
'I haven't watched him play for a while, actually,' Nill said when asked why she struggles to watch her son play.
'I can't expose myself to that anxiety. I go into a really strange panic... It actually got to a stage where I sought help. I was seeing a psychologist for six months. I was not in a good place. My anxiety level watching Nick was so high.'
Kyrgios has always had a particularly close relationship with his siblings, a portrayal that is far from the 'evil' that beaten third round opponent Stefanos Tsitsipas spoke up about last week.
It was after another win at Wimbledon in the last fortnight when Kyrgios, back in his hotel room with girlfriend Hatzi, were on FaceTime to his older brother Christos following the birth of his first child, son George Onyx Kyrgios.
Christos, and three-time world champion fitness model partner Alicia Gowans, have wanted to start a family for years and now Kyrgios could couple becoming an uncle with becoming a Grand Slam champion in a matter of days.
Christos is a sports coach that has also been tasked with being the part-time CEO of NK Foundation, the tennis star's foundational arm.
His sister Halimah, 33, rose to prominence on The Voice Australia and it was Halimah who reflected on a side of Kyrgios that, until he went public with his struggles with self-harm and suicidal thoughts, many rarely get to see.
'Life is too short,' she told the Herald Sun. 'Sometimes he suffers a lot of anxiety from the pressure. It's a really tough industry and you're basically hotel hopping for a whole year.
'You have to be tough on the tennis tour.'
Kyrgios, win or lose, divides opinion at home and away.
Kyrgios is now loved up with Aussie Instagram influencer Costeen Hatzi, pictured here with Kyrgios outside a helicopter
The pair have swapped Canberra for Sydney and she is playing a key role in helping turn his life around to become a champion
The Aussie, who was out of shape as a child in his early years studying at Radford College, saw his his picture temporarily removed from the school's Hall of Fame due to his on-court antics back in 2015. Even his own high school briefly put some distance to their greatest sporting talent.
Kyrgios was said to be popular at school, a teller of jokes and a fun-spirited personality.
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 Grand Slam supremacy at Wimbledon.
'I should have listened to my parents as a child,' Kyrgios previously said.
'I wish I'd done that. When I was 14, they said I couldn't play basketball anymore. It still hurts my heart. It was very hard for me to leave it to concentrate on tennis. I love basketball.'
It quickly proved an investment well made when Kyrgios raced to become world No 1 in the juniors.
Kyrgios, a lover of team sports, has always been fond of doubles and quickly tasted success when, along with Andrew Harris, he won the French Open boys' doubles in 2012; weeks later that was followed by the Wimbledon boys' doubles.
A year later he won the Australian Open boys singles' title and defended his Wimbledon boys' doubles title with childhood friend Thanasi Kokkinakis.
He puts in a lot of hours on the basketball court and finds it as a source of 'meditation' for him at a rec centre in Sydney
Kyrgios is the bad boy of tennis to many critics but he says he 'does what he wants' and now he is a match away from glory
Kyrgios, who worked tirelessly to get in shape and become a consummate athlete, knew early that he had the tools to become a star. In 2014, at the age of 19, Kyrgios stunned Nadal in the last-16 of Wimbledon to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final. He had put the tennis world on notice.
Typically, tennis players spend hours upon hours out on court, perfecting forehands, backhands and their serve in a bid to close the gap to the world No 1.
But for Kyrgios, that is just something he is not willing to do. It's a routine that doesn't work for him, as it does for Nadal or Djokovic.
Basketball, he claims, is his 'meditation' space.
A die-hard fan of NBA franchise Boston Celtics, Kyrgios has worked his new-look routine around the basketball, rather than tennis, court and it is paying off handsomely at Wimbledon.
His second home has become the KGV Recreation Centre in The Rocks, Sydney, since he swapped Canberra for the Harbour City, and users of the gym point to how it is often the tennis player with more than 2.4 million Instagram followers that is the one instigating pick-up games and scrimmages via WhatsApp.
Aspiring basketballer Anthony Mundine III, former US college star Chol Adup, Sydney Kings guard Biwali Bayles and fellow tennis star Kokkinakis, who is a doubles champion along with childhood friend Kyrgios, are among those he plays with on a regular basis.
Kyrgios's routine? Think two hours of basketball, an hour of tennis and some gym work. It is a formula that, while unorthodox, is working for the big-serving Aussie.
And if Kyrgios has shown anything it is that reps on a tennis court, for a player that boasts his ability, is not the be-all-and-end-all.
Take his now departed semi-final opponent Nadal. The Spaniard has played 33 singles matches this year prior to arriving at Wimbledon and he has yet to lose at a Grand Slam.
Then look at Kyrgios, who arrived at Wimbledon having played just 13 singles matches. As Nadal's body wilted, Kyrgios looks to be in the form and fitness of his career.
So, back to the basketball. It was a topic that came up after he was labelled 'evil' and a 'bully' by defeated third round opponent Tsitsipas.
After a thriller beating Stefanos Tsitsipas (left) in the third round, Kyrgios (right) labelled the Greek star soft and said he poses nothing close to the level of competition he faces on the basketball court. Tsitsipas scalded the Aussie as 'evil' and a 'bully'
Kyrgios opened up recently to say that he has thrown matches in the past if his favourite basketball team had lost their match
It had been an ill-tempered match that was the contest of the tournament so far. Tsitsipas despises Kyrgios and his comments showed. What they told Kyrgios was that the Greek player is not close to the competitor he is used to facing on the parquet floor of the Rec centre.
'When I'm back home and you see me every day and who I'm competing with on the basketball court, these guys are dogs,' he said.
'He's (Tsitsipas) just soft. To come in here and say I bullied him, that's just soft.
'We're not cut from the same cloth. I go up against guys who are true competitors.'
Right now at SW19, all eyes are on Kyrgios, both for his antics on and off the court. He is the biggest headliner, even compared to fellow finalist Djokovic.
On that court in the KGV Recreation Centre, though, he's just Nick, the guy who loves to play basketball and the guy who dotes on his parents and his sibling. Just Nick.
'When I first saw him, I thought, 'This bloke can't be serious, he's a tennis player, not a basketball player',' Adup told the Sydney Morning Herald .
'But he's actually pretty good at basketball. Me and Nick we fight all the time, man. What Nick is seeing from other people at Wimbledon is nothing compared to KGV, man. If people see what we do on campus, they would be shocked.
'Nick is not the bully. I'm the bully. When Nick's around us, bro, the amount of stuff we say to him… we go hard at him.
'Some people might want to be cool with Nick and not go at him because he's famous. But for us it's different. We trash talk him. We don't sit back because he's the big dog.
'When he's there he's not the big dog because we go at each other. None of us care that he's Nick Kyrgios. We know who he is, but on the court to me everyone is the same.'
Just when Kyrgios appears human and relatable, a guy who loves basketball and wants to improve to emulate his heroes such as Celtics forward Jayson Tatum, he openly reveals he has thrown matches in the past while sulking over NBA results.
Unfortunately for his rivals, the NBA season is currently over and done with until October.
'I've literally thrown tennis matches if they've lost in like, double overtime,' he told the Tennis Channel after the third round win over Tsitsipas.
Older brother Christos (left) is incredibly protective of Nick (right) and helps him run the Nick Kyrgios foundation part-time
'If someone plays me and they know the Celtics have lost, that's your chance. That is for sure your chance, to play me on that day. Unlucky for Stef, the [NBA] season is over.'
Kyrgios' style is abrasive to some and incredibly likeable to others.
One Mail columnist described him as the 'most cretinous player' of all of Wimbledon. Others have hailed the attention he brings to tennis.
'Nasty Nick', as some have coined, has a history of on-court meltdowns that have plagued him and teed up a reputation that often precedes his immense talent.
In his first round match against Brit Paul Jubb, the Aussie called one line judge 'a snitch with no fans' for reporting his abuse and suggested another was in his 90s and 'can't see the ball'.
After winning the five-set epic, he spat in the general direction of a spectator that had been heckling him.
Outbursts pockmark his progress and always feel like they keep him close to the edge of explosion.
He once threw a tantrum over not having a white towel at the 2019 Rogers Cup, chucked a chair onto the court while losing to Novak Djokovic at the Italian Open in that same year, and threw a tennis racket in the direction of a ball boy at Indian Wells in March 2022.
The rap-sheet continues: Kyrgios once 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 in 2015.
Donna Vekic, a Croatian professional tennis player, was then dating Wawrinka, who was left furious.
'So disappointing to see a fellow athlete and colleague be so disrespectful in a way I could never even imagine,' Wawrinka tweeted.
His brother claimed Wawrinka confronted Kyrgios in the locker room and it was 'lucky' they weren't pressing charges, before deleting the Facebook post.
Kyrgios is viewed much like John McEnroe was in his heyday. A furious and scrupulous player that becomes energised by playing on the edge.
Only this week scrutiny is as much on what Kyrgios is doing off the court as he is on it.
An assault charge, involving his ex-girlfriend Chiara Passari, arrived during this Wimbledon run, but to Kyrgios will not have come as a surprise.
Kyrgios, who is due to appear ACT Magistrates Court on August 2, allegedly grabbed Ms Passari, his model ex-girlfriend, in late 2021.
'Haters and liars will always try bring us down - we keep it 100 and push forward,' Kyrgios's brother Christos wrote furiously on Instagram.
The charge against Kyrgios carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison.
Kyrgios (right) is facing allegations of an alleged assault against Chiara Passari (left) which will be heard in court in August
Hatzi (left) has been described as the best girlfriend in the world by Kyrgios and he has said how he is 'obsessed' with her
It proved a 'toxic' relationship between Kyrgios and Passari, who was pictured spending time with the tennis star's family during their brief romance.
They began dating in July 2020 but split following an argument in October that year which led to a police visit at their hotel in Adelaide, Australia.
The argument centred on Passari accusing Kyrgios of cheating in an Instagram post. Kyrgios flatly denied claims of cheating at the time.
Now, as the assault charge hangs over him, he has a new girlfriend in his player box: 22-year-old social media influencer Costeen Hatzi.
Hatzi, who he describes as the 'best girlfriend in the world', deserves credit for righting the Kyrgios ship, along with his close-knit entourage, just as it appeared to be veering off course once more.
Will Maher, one of Kyrgios' closest friends, is his full-time physiotherapist. John Morris, his agent, is another member of the Kyrgios family that scouted him back in 2010 and has worked with him since 2012.
Key to his recent turnaround – which still includes blockbuster outbursts on court and rule-flouting off it after he broke Wimbledon's dress code to wear his red Jordan sneakers – has been swapping Canberra for Sydney with Hatzi, a prospect few saw coming given he once vowed he would never move there.
The pair's $1.6million Kensington penthouse is a perfect recluse for when he wants to turn his back on the tennis tour – something he has done ahead of Wimbledon for years by skipping the French Open for the past five years.
'Roland Garros should simply be removed from the calendar. It's the worst Grand Slam I've ever seen,' he said last year on the No Boundaries Podcast.
It speaks volumes that Kyrgios will end his five-year hiatus from the Paris slam next year so girlfriend Hatzi can tick Paris off her bucket list.
This fortnight has been a career best run at a Slam for Kyrgios and now he faces the prospect of breaking his Grand Slam duck
It was supposed to be Nadal, the player he stunned in four sets back in 2014 as an unfancied 19-year-old and the player he overlooked enough to go out drinking in a Wimbledon pub until 4am before they met at the All England Club in 2019, next, only for the Spaniard to be forced to withdraw.
Nadal slogged his way through a tough five-setter against Taylor Fritz but an abdominal injury ended his chances of a calendar Grand Slam a day later. Now comes Novak Djokovic.
There has never been a better chance presented to Kyrgios to win his maiden slam - and routes to getting them do not have to be conventional to the tennis community - just ask Emma Raducanu.
Dad George will be there watching on, as will sister Halilah and girlfriend Costeen.
Radford College may need to make some more room on their Hall of Fame wall if he can navigate one more match at Wimbledon to win it all.
Most watched Sport videos
- Football Pundit Eli Aluko speaks on 'Institutional racism'
- Caitlin Clark is caught in 'gross' exchange with 'sexist pervert'
- Man City fans grab selfies with United legend ahead of Madrid tie
- Would back-to-back trebles make Man City the best club side ever?
- Portsmouth fans scale pubs during wild scenes after promotion
- Moment masked thieves steal players valuables at the Pirelli Stadium
- Barcelona fans go head to head with police ahead of quarter finals
- Mikel Arteta reflects on 'disappointing' result against Bayern
- Anthony Joshua is grilled by a 9-year-old reporter
- FA Cup replays will be scrapped from next season
- Ethiopian runners join British runners for the London Marathon
- David Moyes praises side for three years of European football