Nick Kyrgios shows off his sleeve tattoo during five-set thriller at Wimbledon

Nick Kyrgios flaunted his Kobe Bryant sleeve tattoo during an explosive five-set thriller in the first round at Wimbledon before a ‘ridiculous’ rule led to boos from the crowd.

The World No.60 ranted about the state of Wimbledon‘s famous green turf on Tuesday during a late-night roller-coaster first-round against France‘s Ugo Humbert.

But just as the match was bubbling to a climax, time was called due to Wimbledon’s strict 11pm curfew – prompting the tournament referee to enter the stadium and tell the players their match would have to resume the following day. 

It robbed fans of a conclusion to an absorbing contest in which Kyrgios began well, then went off the boil, before hitting back strongly. When play was suspended the score was 6-4 4-6 3-6 6-1 3-3. 

The infuriating decision prompted a chorus of boos and jeers from the unsatisfied crowd, with fed-up fans at home taking to social media to blast the ‘ridiculous’ rule.

But it was Kyrgios’ new sleeve tattoo of the late NBA legend Kobe Bryant that captured fans’ attention.

During January 2020’s Australian Open, the 26-year-old walked onto Rod Laver Arena in tears wearing Bryant’s LA Lakers jersey in tribute to the star who had died days earlier in a freak helicopter accident.

‘That was a special moment for me, basketball’s my life. I play tennis but I follow basketball every day. But for me personally I struggled a lot, I was crying when I was walking out on court that day,’ Kyrgios said in a video on Instagram at the time.

A few months later the tennis bad boy debuted a photo of his new ink on Instagram with the caption: ‘Kobe and the King with me forever & some Jordan 1s’.

The word GOAT – which stands for greatest of all time – is inked underneath the image of Bryant’s face on Kyrgios’ forearm.

Kyrgios enlisted the work of esteemed artist David Chavez for the piece, who worked on the Aussie star in his home.

Bryant is a hero of Kyrgios, who wore his jersey while getting inked. 

‘I definitely wanted to get something in memory of him,’ Kyrgios said. ‘We can never really emulate what he did but there can be moments where we can try.’

Tennis fans have seen little of Kyrgios’ new ink, with the mercurial Australian tennis star only playing just one Grand Slam to avoid travelling during the pandemic.

On Tuesday in London local time, Kyrgios and Humbert were switched to Court One under the roof after rain delays but the match could not finish as the tournament’s 11pm curfew came into force. 

Considering the lack of play Kyrgios has had in the last 18 months because of the pandemic, he produced some sizzling tennis, but could not hide his frustration at the grass he believed was playing too slowly.

‘For those of you guys at home right now, this should be fast. It’s grass court tennis,’ Kyrgios said, addressing the courtside camera at a changeover. ‘This is slow. It’s slow.’

‘They made it slow. It’s not turf anymore, it’s a joke.’

It did not stop him thundering down four successive aces as he roared back in the fourth set.