Controversial tennis star Nick Kyrgios has offered to deliver food to people finding themselves hungry during the coronavirus lockdown, his latest charitable effort after spearheading sporting donations to help Australia’s bushfire crisis.
The Canberra-based
Kyrgios, infamously outspoken and known for his fiery on-court antics, said he
would personally drop food on doorsteps after COVID-19 restrictions closed down
entire industries, forcing huge numbers of people out of work across
Australia.
“Please don’t go to
sleep with an empty stomach,” Kyrgios, the world number 40, posted on Instagram
late Monday.
“Don’t be afraid or
embarrassed to send me a private message. I will be more than happy to share
whatever I have.
“Even just for a
box of noodles, a loaf of bread or milk. I will drop it off at your doorstep,
no questions asked!” he said in a post which has already attracted more than
90,000 likes.
People queueing for
welfare payments around the country have been likened to scenes from the Great
Depression, as all non-essential business and travel are banned to contain the
virus.
In January, Kyrgios
led a bushfire relief campaign which raised millions of dollars.
The 24-year-old
contributed Aus$200 (US$125) for every ace he hit across his home tennis
summer, which ran until the end of the first Grand Slam of the year, the
Australian Open.
Players and
Australian Open organisers also contributed to relief for the deadly fires, but
it was Kyrgios who was seen as driving sport’s fundraising efforts, gaining him
new respect.
Kyrgios cited the
crisis for changing his outlook on life in the wake of being handed a 16-week
suspended ban in September 2019 for a series of outbursts.
“I guess it’s just
a perspective thing, isn’t it?” he said. “Why am I really getting mad on the
tennis court with everything going on?”
Since then, the
year’s next two Grand Slams have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic with
the French Open postponed and Wimbledon cancelled for the first time since
World War II.
There will be no
professional tennis anywhere in the world until at least July 13 after the
governing bodies ITF, ATP and WTA suspended all tournaments with coronavirus
causing an almost complete shutdown of the global sporting calendar.
