Brands Endorsed by Tennis Bad Boy Nick Kyrgios

Nick Kyrgios is an excellent tennis player but his career has been distracted by his antics on and off the court. He is often fined by umpires for poor behavior on the court.

Kyrgios reached a peak ranking of world number 13 in 2016. He reached the finals at the 2022 Wimbledon Championships where he lost to Novak Djokovic. He won the doubles title at the 2022 Australian Open with fellow Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis.  He holds the unique honor of beating Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic in their first meeting.

Tennis’ ultimate bad boy, Nick Kyrgios, was born in Canberra, Australia to father George, who is from Greece, and mother Norlaila, who is from Malaysia.  Kyrgios played basketball until he was 14. Then he dedicated himself to tennis.

Kyrgios is represented by Naomi Osaka’s sports agency Evolve. He was previously represented by IMG. His sponsors are Nike, Yonex, Beyond Meat, and Beats by Dre. He has earned over $13 million in his career.

Nick Kyrgios’ Sponsors

Nike

Kyrgios has an apparel and shoe deal with Nike. In 2019, Nike received ideas from the Boston Celtics’ Kyrie Irving  and Kyrgios to create the Nike Vapor X Kyrie 5. Irving  was born in Melbourne, Australia to American parents and is Kyrgios’ favorite NBA player.  The shoe is usable both on the basketball court and on the tennis court.

Yonex

Kyrgios uses Yonex racquets on the court.  His current racquet is the EZONE 98. He joins Stan Wawrinka, Frances Tiafoe and Naomi Osaka in endorsing the brand.

Beats By Dre

Kyrgios signed an endorsement deal with  Beats By Dre (audio products company that is now part of Apple)  in 2015.  LeBron James and Serena Williams also endorse the brand.  Kyrgios appeared in a “play by your rules”  Beats’ commercial.

Kyrgios’ favorite artists are  Drake and Rihanna, both of whom are represented by IMG/WME, Kyrgios’ previous management company (WME bought IMG in April 2015).

Beyond Meat

Kyrgios, who is vegan. has been a passionate advocate for animal welfare, does not eat meat or dairy. Kyrgios’ partnership with Beyond Meat started in 2022.

Nick Kyrgios Foundation

Nick Kyrgios started the Nick Kyrgios Foundation with help from his mother, Norlaila, and his brother, Christos, NK Foundation hopes to offer sporting opportunities to underprivileged youth.  It endeavors to create a safe place where underprivileged youth can play the sport they dream about and take shelter if needed. The foundation’s facility  will have tennis courts, basketball courts, a pool, a gym, and dorms that will provide refuge to children that don’t have access to play the sport they desire.

Continue ReadingBrands Endorsed by Tennis Bad Boy Nick Kyrgios

Canada’s Pursuit of a Singles Grand Slam Title

No Canadian man or woman has won a singles grand slam. But the elusive singles title is coming to Canada.  It’s just a matter of time.

Though Tennis Canada doesn’t have the resources of the grand slam hosting countries like US, France, Australia or Great Britain, it has done an excellent job of recruiting and creating a pipeline of tennis players who could dominate the game for next 20-30 years.

But it wasn’t always riches for Canadian tennis.  In 2005, no Canadian man had ranked in the top 50 in 21 years.  Women fared slightly better but not enough to consistently win tournaments at the top level.

Things were so dire that at one point, ATP had threatened to pull the ATP Masters tournament (Canadian Open) because its facilities were not up to par. Cash strapped, Tennis Canada came up with a plan to revitalize its tennis program to keep up in an increasingly competitive sport.

It took a decade for the results to show up. In 2014, Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard were ranked in the Top 10 of the ATP and the WTA tour respectively. Canada was consistently in the World Group in Davis Cup and Fed Cup.  But it was only the beginning.

Raonic and Bouchard didn’t win a grand slam but both reached the Wimbledon final. But the other kids were coming along in Canada’s tennis program. Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Bianca Andreesu had considerable success in the juniors and are starting to shine on the professional tour.

How did Tennis Canada do it? How did a cash strapped country with limited tennis facilities become a force in tennis?

Money and Facilities

Tennis Canada CEO Michael Downey used his business skills to increase the cash flowing into the tennis program from two big tournaments hosted in Canada. From 2005 to 2015, that money tripled from $3 million to $9 million.

Tennis Canada opened a national tennis center for full-time residential coaching of  promising juniors. It hired Louis Borfiga, who led the junior national tennis program in France.

Hiring Right People and Focusing on Junior Player Development

Louis Borfiga

It lured the highly respected Louis Borfiga to be the Tennis Canada’s Vice President of High Performance & Athlete Development.  He previously ran the French Tennis Federation and worked with players such as o-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut during their junior years.

Bob Brett

As Boris Becker’s coach, Brett guided the German to Boris Becker to the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles.  Instead of assigning him to help the ATP professionals from Canada, Tennis Canada put him in charge of our Under-14 program. Brett was tasked with identifying word-class talent with high probability of success among the juniors.

Allow Players To Train Overseas

There are two distinct funding models for player development in tennis. A country like France that consistently produces top players identifies promising tennis players at a young age and takes them under its wing.  It shepherds these players through their junior playing years and ultimately into the professional tour, controlling every aspect of their tennis lives.

On the other hand, the US has many for-profit tennis academies such as the Bolletieri Academy.  Player development at the junior level is often left to parents and the tennis academies.  Once players show promise, the Unites States Tennis Association (USTA) provides the resources to ensure success at the professional level of the game.

Canada took a slightly different approach from the French Federation and the USTA.  While Tennis Canada funded the high performance players, it allowed them to to leave Canada to train.  Milos Raonic went to Spain with coach Galo Blanco at his 4Slam Tennis academy in Barcelona, and Eugenic Bouchard trained in Florida at the Nick Saviano Academy in Fort Lauderdale  (where Sloane Stephens also trained) under the guidance of Tennis Canada.

High Standards for Funding

Tennis Canada developed a development path for each player it identified and established criteria that players had to meet to gain and maintain funding.  This ensured that Canada was spending its resources wisely and getting a solid return on its investment.

Grand Slam Pursuit

With the right people and the right program in place, Canada waits for its first grand slam champion. It’s certainly coming.

Continue ReadingCanada’s Pursuit of a Singles Grand Slam Title