{"id":345441,"date":"2023-11-10T19:05:51","date_gmt":"2023-11-10T20:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=345441"},"modified":"2023-11-11T02:02:27","modified_gmt":"2023-11-11T02:02:27","slug":"i-had-to-the-nick-kyrgios-you-didnt-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=345441","title":{"rendered":"'I had to': The Nick Kyrgios you didn't know"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick Kyrgios'<\/a> obsession with gaming is one that's well-documented and one, he'll have you know, he's quite proud of.<\/p>\n

Despite travelling to some of the world's most iconic locations, he'll admit to being more than happy to sit in his hotel room between tennis<\/a> tournaments playing video games.<\/p>\n

Such is his passion for video gaming that the tennis star's back is a literal artwork of iconic Pokemon characters.<\/p>\n

Watch Australia take on the United States and Great Britain in the 2024 United Cup from December 29.<\/strong><\/em> Every match ad free and on demand on Stan Sport<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

One of those, Blastoise, formed the inspiration for a collaboration between Kyrgios and Melbourne-based gaming desktop and laptop manufacturer Aftershock PC.<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

At this year's PAX Convention, a custom-built PC designed by Kryrgios and Aftershock was revealed.<\/p>\n

The joint effort has been something that's kept Kyrgios busy while he's been away from tennis, plagued by injuries to his knee and wrist.<\/p>\n

"They catered to pretty much everything that I wanted," Kyrgios told Wide World of Sports.\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

"We had a couple of phone calls to kind of get to know what games that I love, the passion behind the gaming side of things. I told them I was obsessed with Pokemon and water types and Blastoise.<\/p>\n

"They just incorporated everything. Everything they said they were like, 'Look, we'll take back all the information and we'll go back to the shop and build something that no one else will ever have'.<\/p>\n

"The collaboration is awesome. For me, I'm super passionate about gaming. The partnership, that's basically just how it started real organic and raw."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CyFbE-JyAfI\/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet<\/a><\/p>\n

The PC is one of a kind, even featuring the words "time is running out" which he has tattooed across his arm.<\/p>\n

It also features nods to famous Japanese TV show and video game series, including a 3D-printed Blastoise shell.<\/p>\n

Pokemon remains Kyrgios' go-to game at the moment but he also enjoys Call Of Duty and League Of Legends.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old said he spends several hours a day playing video games, perhaps to his detriment.<\/p>\n

"If I put as much time (as I do into) gaming into training and playing, I probably would have been number one in the world, but that's not here nor there," he joked.<\/p>\n

"I game probably more than I train, and so it's every day, bro. It's like every day for at least a couple of hours."<\/p>\n

The enormous back tattoo is something Kyrgios is particularly proud of.<\/p>\n

"Honestly, I love Pokemon," he said.<\/p>\n

\"Australia's<\/p>\n

"I play it every day. It's a big passion of mine. I just love it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"At the PAX Convention, all my friends that went there were there Facetiming me, sending all these pictures and videos \u2013 all this Pokemon stuff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm covered in tattoos. My whole back's done. I've got two arm sleeves as well and everything that I've got on my body is symbolic in some way of my interests or what I like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"On my right arm, I've got all the NBA stuff, like basketball stuff on my back.<\/p>\n

"I had to do it. I had to do it. I just love it so much that I want someday someone to look at that and be like that was the most iconic Pokemon back piece of all time.<\/p>\n

"That kind of shows my passion for gaming."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/CvLfSWCMA_H\/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==<\/a><\/p>\n

Kyrgios can thank his older brother for his sheer obsession with gaming.<\/p>\n

In some ways, he's making up for lost time after his brother hogged the controller for all those years.<\/p>\n

"My brother was big into gaming and he wouldn't let me play," said Kyrgios.<\/p>\n

"He would just make me sit on the beanbag and watch him play for six, seven hours and I just wanted to play so bad.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Then my uncle got me on to Call Of Duty and then Super Mario \u2013 just everything really.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"Ever since I got the controller, I've never had so much fun. Literally ever since I was young enough to pick up a controller, it's always been a big part of my life."<\/p>\n

Kyrgios is hoping to recover from his injuries in time to line up at the Australian Open from January 14, broadcast on Nine, 9Now and Stan Sport.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nick Kyrgios' obsession with gaming is one that's well-documented and one, he'll have you know, he's quite proud of. Despite travelling to some of the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":319221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=345441"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":345445,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345441\/revisions\/345445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/319221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=345441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=345441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=345441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}