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Nick Kyrgios stuns Australian Open fans with mid-match drink choice

Sam Goodwin
·Sports Editor
·4-min read
Nick Kyrgios, pictured here sipping on a Pepsi during his match at the Australian Open.
Nick Kyrgios was casually sipping on a Pepsi during his match at the Australian Open. Image: Eurosport/AAP

If you thought you'd seen it all with Nick Kyrgios, think again.

The mercurial Aussie tennis star stunned fans at the Australian Open on Friday night when he whipped out a can of Pepsi and started sipping the soft drink during his five-set tussle with Dominic Thiem.

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Kyrgios took the first two sets off the World No.3 at John Cain Arena and looked destined for one of the upsets of the tournament.

However Thiem staged a remarkable comeback to send the Aussie packing, prevailing 4-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 6-4.

With the match in the balance in the fifth set, fans were left baffled when Kyrgios was seen sipping on the Pepsi.

While most professional tennis players would opt for water or a Powerade, you'd never see someone downing a can of Pepsi in the heat of battle.

But this is Kyrgios after all and you can never predict what the firebrand star will do next.

To be fair, we have seen soft drinks creep their way into professional sports in recent years.

In endurance sports such as cycling - particularly the Tour de France - it's not uncommon to see athletes drinking soft drinks for a quick energy boost.

It is thought that the high concentration of glucose and sucrose in soft drinks can provide competitors with a short, sharp burst of energy.

But if that was indeed Kyrgios' plan, it didn't really work.

The Aussie had his serve broken early in the fifth set and couldn't recover.

Kyrgios takes positives from heartbreaking loss

Despite the result, Kyrgios said he was proud of his effort on return to competitive tennis after taking 13 months out of the game because of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I went toe to toe with one of the best players in the world and I left it all out there," Kyrgios said.

"I actually physically felt pretty good. I'm pretty sore now, but he's a hell of a player.

"He's so disciplined. He's so composed. His level doesn't drop.

"It is what it is. There was a couple of points in it and I'm not disappointed at all."

Nick Kyrgios, pictured here after his loss to Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open.
Nick Kyrgios looked gutted after his loss to Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open. Image: Getty

Thiem looked all but out of the contest when he was down two sets and two break points in his opening service game of the third set.

"I was already dealing with the loss," Thiem told the Nine Network.

"My first match against Nick here on his favourite court with an amazing crowd, I think there are easier things to do.

"That's for sure one of the tougher challenges we have in our sport as you never know what's coming.

"He's a huge player when he's on fire like today.

"Honestly, I was dealing with the loss already, but somehow I was fighting (to keep) myself in the match and it's the Aussie Open - I know that 'impossible is nothing'."

with AAP

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