Nick Kyrgios: how tennis’s loudest talent became a hero to the quiet Australians | Russell Jackson

The usually polarising player aced the national mood during the bushfire crisis and has spent a few heady weeks in unfamiliar territory

Of all the immediate outcomes of Australia’s bushfire crisis, perhaps the least predictable, if not the most perverse, was the emergence of new national hero in Nick Kyrgios. No sooner had Kyrgios pledged $200 to the fireys for every ace he hit this summer – sparking a wave of similar offers from sportspeople around the world – than the online razor gang of Kyrgios haters stood at ease.

From Kyrgios’s thought bubble grew a movement. The donations and offers kept coming. Shane Warne parted with his baggy green and raised a million dollars, a magnanimous act with a backstory: Warne, of mum’s diet pills and mirrored ceiling fame, once directed an open letter to Kyrgios that included the words: “You’re testing our patience mate.”

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