Kyrgios fires back at NBL great after being criticized for antics during celebrity basketball game

Wednesday, 27 April 2022 at 07:00

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has responded to comments made by NBL great Steve Carfino, who criticized the Cranberra native for acting like a "jerk" and showing a "lack of sportsmanship" during the league's celebrity All-Star game.

Kyrgios did not hold back during the charity contest, blocking NSW premier Dom Perrottet’s shot and attempting to do the same to Miss Universe Australia 2020 Maria Thattil, while racking up buckets.

Carfino, who was coaching one of the teams, thought Kyrgios showed a lack of tact in his antics.

“What a jerk. Oh my goodness,” he said on Fox Sports’ The Back Page. "And what a lack of sportsmanship. He’s blocking girls’ shots, he’s not passing to his teammates.

“This is a celebrity game. There’s be funds to be raised for the Starlight Foundation. It was ridiculous.”

Kyrgios is an avid NBA fan and spends much of his free time on the basketball court. Responding to a Fox Sports Australia Instagram post about Carfino’s comments, he commented: “Lack of respect? You potato, have a look at my foundation and look me in my eyes and tell me what lack of respect there is for that?

“Maybe if you showed less sportsmanship your NBA career would of lasted longer (laugh emoji).”

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Carfino was asked to clarify his initial comments and confirmed he was being serious with his criticism.

“I just thought it was unsportsmanlike, you know? It wasn’t the right moment to show how dominant you can be against, you know, Australia’s contestant for Miss World,” he said. “He’s trying to block her shot. He’s going hard, blocking the shot of the premier, you know, didn’t come out, refused to come out of the game.

“We had 18 players and we got everybody in. I think it was you know, for the betterment of the game. You know, that was the right thing to do. It was a celebrity game. Know where you’re at.”

Asked what made Kyrgios act like he did, Carfino said: “I guess white line fever. And his coach was Shane Heal, he suffers from it as well.

“Shane actually said to Nick, he was like come over here - Carfino doesn’t think you can get 20. And he looked at me like he was ready to kill me.”

Arthur Ajayi

Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.

As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.

With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.

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