Balls Galore: Move over football, Malaysia is making waves in tennis!

QUITE a few Malaysians stayed up late last night to catch the action – not just at the football fortunes of Argentina or Switzerland but of Australia’s Nick Kyrgios.

Kyrgios – battled in four sets to oust the Number One ranked player at the top of the tennis hierarchy now – Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

Check his online profile and you'll discover that his middle name is Hilmy – now is there any more Malaysian name than H-i-l-m-y?

Search the net and you’ll learn that this new sporting sensation goes by the name Nicholas Hilmy (Nick) Kyrgios who is half-Malaysian.

The Malaysian connection comes from his mother, known from the same source only as Norlaila (several of my female colleagues are Norlaila – how much more Malaysian a name therefore, can mom be)? Apparently, she is a computer engineer married to Giorgos, a self-employed house painter.

Born in Canberra in 1995, he has a sister – wait for it; Halimah. Halimah is an actress, while the third in the family – bother Christos, is a lawyer.

To non-tennis followers, the Kyrgios name is no different from Adam; just another completely anonymous young man newly starting out in the professional game.

By the time he was ready to hit the circuit as a teenager, the Greek DNA gifted to him from dad Giorgos made him blossom from a runt into a 1.93 meter, 78 kg hulk by the time he turned professional in 2013.

He soon made waves – winning the boys singles event at the 2013 Australian Open and the boys doubles event at Wimbledon the same year. He was also thrown into the cauldron of team competition with Davis Cup tennis. His huge presence, undoubted promise and eye-catching performances earned him many wild card invites, including this one at Wimbledon.

Kyrgios brings to the game youthful power – in the game against Nadal, he served 13 aces in the first set alone! By the time his day was done, he had served 24 more missiles down his opponent’s throat!

This being the World Cup, we can’t help but make the comparison between the rising fortunes of another 19-year-old star-in-the-making, now on the football stadia of Brazil .

He is Colombia’s James David Rodriguez Rubio aka James Rodriguez – okay, he was born wa...aay back in 1991,which makes him all of 22; but he was 19 once!

His goal-scoring exploits has earned him the covetous envy of Real Madrid which appears willing to break the bank to bring him over from French outfit Monaco.

Back to the green turf of SW19. This burst of youthful exploits harks back to the Mens’ Final back in 1985 when the then 17-year-old Boris Becker won Wimbledon, brushing aside equally big-serving South African Kevin Curren.

Later, another 19-year-old; Roger Federer, brought the curtains down on the glittering career of another tennis great, Pete Sampras. So another tennis tsunami this time round is quite likely.

The last time Australia produced a Grand Slam winner was in 2002 with Lleyton Hewitt. Just over a decade later, another Aussie looks likely to make a grand entry. The name may be Greek, but Malaysians will join in the joyful celebration when that happens.