When it looked like Nick Kyrgios had beef with Ben Stiller
A throwback to that time when Nick Kyrgios clashed with a heckler in the stands – and it looked like he was having a showdown with Ben Stiller.
This throwback Thursday, we're revisiting the time Nick Kyrgios and Ben Stiller almost had a showdown on the tennis court – or so it seemed.
In March 2022, during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, USA, Stiller found himself at the centre of an unexpected viral moment.
What looked like a tense standoff between the actor and Kyrgios quickly became one of the most misunderstood moments in sports.
Trevor Noah even joked in an interview with Stiller that it was as if he were living out a scene from one of his own comedies.
Watch the video below – courtesy of TikTok.
@tennistv When Kyrgios met Ben Stiller 🫠 #tennis #tennistv ♬ original sound - Tennis TV
Stiller recounted the story during an interview on 'The Daily Show' with Noah back in 2022.
He explained, "Basically what happened was Nick Kyrgios, he talks to himself a lot during the matches, and he kept on saying, 'Oh, man, get your first serve in, get your first serve in.' And there was a gentleman next to me who decided when he started to serve to tell him, 'Yeah, get your first serve in.'
"So Nick Kyrgios turns and goes, 'What do you... Why are you talking to me? Do you play tennis? Are you a good tennis player?' And the guy's like, 'No.' And then he looks at me and goes, 'Do I tell him how to act?' And I didn't even hear it, so I thought he might have been talking to me. And then that was it. Then apparently, it went viral."
It was a hilarious moment, and even better is the narrative it sparked for future interviews, like the one at the US Open in September 2024.
During this interview, Stiller chatted with a sports reporter from the Australian sports show, 'Stan Sport', and the topic of facing off against Kyrgios came up.
Watch how Stiller responds to the comment in the video below – courtesy of Facebook.
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Image courtesy of TikTok