As early as the second game of the opening set, Kyrgios pulled off an underarm serve. To spice things up a bit, the World No. 114 improvised by hitting the ball from between his legs.
Understandably, the incident immediately went viral on social media. The clip of the serve was shared by the official Twitter handle of the Australian Open, praising the show put on by the 26-year-old.
Interestingly, the Australian had hit a 220 kmph ace on the previous point. That was brought up as proof of the variety he possesses.
The underarm serve was not the only moment of magic produced by Kyrgios in the encounter. The Australian produced another tweener early in the second set, and although Broady managed to return it, Kyrgios won the point with a passing shot.
The Australian Open shared the video, calling it “box office entertainment” for fans.
While the majority of tennis fans on social media found Kyrgios’ antics entertaining, there was also a minority that considered his actions rude and disrespectful to the game. Tennis commentator David Law was among those who felt that his behavior crossed the line between entertainment and mockery.
However, it did not seem like Kyrgios had any intention of disrespecting his opponent. The Australian genuinely looked like he was having fun on the court, which he later confirmed on Twitter.
Nick Kyrgios celebrated his victory with a celebration inspired by Cristiano Ronaldo
Nick Kyrgios capped off the night with the famous “siuuuu” celebration popularized by footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo employed his celebration as a way of saying the word “Si” in Spanish, (which means ‘yes" in English), indicative of success after scoring a goal.
Since then the celebration has been performed by athletes across many sporting disciplines, including Indian cricketer Mohammed Siraj. Kyrgios also performed the celebration after his victory against Broady, further delighting fans at Melbourne Park, who kept yelling the word between points during several different matches.
To top it all off, Kyrgios amused the fans by taking a sip of beer offered to him by one of his fans.
Kyrgios will take on World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev in the second round on Thursday.
0 votes
