Nick Kyrgios’ ethnicity — The tennis champion’s interesting heritage

Nick Kyrgios

Despite being a prominent tennis player, Kyrgios experienced racism from the sports world for his bi-ethnic identity. A notable instance occurred in 2015 when the Australian swimmer and politician Dawn Fraser remarked Kyrgios to “go back to where his parents came from”. Kyrgios called out the racism in the industry in a 2020 interview, saying:

“[Tennis] is supposed to be a nice white gentleman’s sport. So, seeing someone colored like myself go out there, be different and be successful, it is not so easy to see at times.”

Nick Kyrgios has Greek and Malaysian heritage – He has royal lineage from his mother’s side

Nick Kyrgios parents
Nick Kyrgios’ parents | nillkyrgios/instagram

Nick Kyrgios was born in Canberra, Australia to Giorgos and Norlaila “Nill” Kyrgios on April 27, 1995. His father, Giorgos, was an Australian of Greek origin while his mother, Nill, was a Malaysian immigrant.

Nick is not the first tennis player in his family as his father had once dabbled in the sport. Giorgos later became a self-employed house painter and supported his son’s career in tennis.

As for Nick’s mother, she is a computer engineer and has a royal background. Nill was born in Gombak, Malaysia, and belonged to the Selangor royal family descending from the Sultan of Pahang.

By birth, she held the title of the ‘Tengku of Pahang’ which could be interpreted as the princess of the state of Pahang. However, Nill renounced her royal title when she immigrated to Australia in her twenties.

Since then, she has been residing in the country, eventually settling down and getting married to Giorgos. Nevertheless, she maintains an intimate relationship with her home country and is proud of her Malaysian roots. It is a sentiment shared by Nick and the rest of the family as well.

Nick has a close bond with his mother’s Malaysian family and visits them often

Nill shared in a 2014 interview that Nick is “very close” with his Malaysian family and visited them frequently.

“He even played tennis at Cameron Highlands the last time we were in Malaysia. The entire Kyrgios family is very close to my family. I want Malaysians to take pride in Nick’s achievements as Malaysian blood runs through his veins,” she said.

In the same year, Nick visited the country with his mother to play in the Malaysia Open tournament. He was excited to go back “to his mother’s roots” for the competition.

“I’m not going to be out and about or eating lots of food, I’m there to play… I’ve been to Malaysia a couple of times to see relatives … I don’t know much about mum’s history. But hopefully, they embrace me over there too,” said Nick.