To beat Nick Kyrgios, first find a way for the Boston Celtics to lose.
In either a stunning or a tongue-in-cheek admission, Kyrgios told Sports Illustrated he has tanked tennis matches after his favorite NBA team has suffered particularly painful defeats.
“I’ve literally thrown tennis matches if they’ve lost in like, double overtime,” the tennis superstar told the magazine as part of a profile published Friday. “If someone plays me and they know the Celtics have lost, that’s [their] chance. That is for sure your best chance [to beat me], to play me on that day.”
The infamous Australian tennis superstar often wears Celtics jerseys and shouts out the team in his Twitter bio.
He did not provide examples of matches he has thrown, but his emotions have very clearly and publicly affected his tennis. Kyrgios was most recently in the news for loudly complaining about a fan who must have had “700 drinks” during his Wimbledon final last month against Novak Djokovic.
That fan — Polish lawyer Anna Palus — is now suing him for defamation.
Kyrgios next will be seen at the U.S. Open, where he is seeded No. 23 and will begin his quest for his first Grand Slam title on Monday night against Thanasi Kokkinakis. Unfortunately for Kokkinakis, the Celtics still have more than another month left in their offseason.