The professional basketballers who bash Nick Kyrgios every day in Sydney have risen up to stick up for their mate, scoffing at suggestions from beaten Greek tennis star Stefanos Tsitsipas that the Aussie star is a bully.
The world No.5 did not take his third-round loss to Kyrgios well, complaining that the polarising Aussie star was ‘evil’.
Kyrgios has laughed at that suggestion, slamming Tsitsipas as ‘soft’ and pointing to his crew of professional and semi-professional basketball mates as the real bullies.
They shook hands after the match, but Kyrgios and Tsitsipas are unlikely to exchange Christmas cards this year after a spiteful round three match at Wimbledon
The Aussie tennis star’s love for basketball has been well documented and he recently admitted to tanking in games when his beloved Boston Celtics lost.
His second home is the KGV Recreation Centre in The Rocks in Sydney where he trains regularly with mates including aspiring basketballer Anthony Mundine III, rising NBL1 and former US college star Chol Adup, Sydney Kings guard Biwali Bayles and fellow tennis star Thanasi Kokkinakis.
Kyrgios suggested that if Tsitsipas wants to know about real bullies, he should lob up to KGV and get bashed in a pick-up game like the ‘dogs’ he plays with.
‘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.’
Adup said he sized Kyrgios up the moment he first saw him in the gym, but Kyrgios gave back as good as he got.
‘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.’
Bayles has represented Australia at under-19 level (top) and is pictured talking with Kyrgios at a Sydney Kings NBL home game in season 2021/22
Earlier this year, before the Australian Open, Bayles also enthusiastically defended his good friend and fellow baller Kyrgios.
‘Thats my boy,’ he said on SEN at the time.
‘I think in any professional sport, in this industry, you’ve got to have people that love you and hate you no matter what.
‘You can’t please everybody, you know?
‘I commend Nick for being himself and keeping it real all the time no matter what, you know?
‘There will be a lot of people who will love you and hate you and you can’t really worry about trying to please everybody.
‘As long as your family is happy and your close friends and you are happy, I think that is all that matters.’
Kyrgios shoots during the Starlight Celebrity basketball match at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney
Kyrgios has expressed a great fondness for Bayls in the past as well and has been spotted supporting him at Kings home games.
‘Biwali’s journey so far is remarkable, and I want nothing but success for my little brother,’ Kyrgios said,
‘I love his energy, his passion for the game and how he competes on every play.’
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