Nick Kyrgios is wearing his heart—and heroes—on his sleeve.
Kyrgios recently revealed his full sleeve tribute tattoo to NBA stars Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Michael Jordan.
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Designed by Canberra tattoo artist Dave Chavez, the left-arm tattoo pays tribute to one of Kyrgios' sporting heroes, Kobe Bryant.
The 41-year-old Lakers legend was among nine people, including his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, who perished in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, California last January.
Kyrgios, a massive NBA fan, never met Bryant, but was inspired by the superstar's passion. Kyrgios paid homage wearing a Kobe Bryant jersey in the warm-up of his Australian Open fourth-round match vs. Rafael Nadal and said he tried to emulate Bryant's example during the match.
"When I woke up to the news, it was pretty emotional. It was pretty heavy, like, all day," Kyrgios said. "It's horrible news.
"I mean, if anything, it motivated me. If you look at the things he stood for, what he wanted to be remembered by, I felt like, if anything, it helped me tonight. When I was down a break in the fourth, I was definitely thinking about it. I fought back."
Fellow Aussie and friend Thanasi Kokkinakis called the tribute tat "pretty crazy" artwork.
"He didn't go out wondering on that one," Kokkinakis told Tennis Australia's Todd Woodbridge of Kyrgios' tattoo. "I've got a couple myself, but he has them far more often. [Nick] has got a tattoo artist that he wanted to help him out in Canberra.
"Obviously, we're both massively into the NBA. With the Kobe stuff happening earlier in the year, which was brutal, he got that to remember him. He got a bit of LeBron on there. As soon as it happened it looked so aggressive because it was black, real dark at the e start...It will clear up. It's pretty crazy art work. "
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve