Kyrgios: "Kevin Garnett is my spirit animal"

Fiery Aussie tennis star Nick Kyrgios gave the world a little insight into what drives him on the tennis court in a first person article for the Player's Tribune.

Kyrgios is a huge basketball fan, a Boston Celtics fan and a pretty handy baller in his younger days, but there's one player who he looks to as a source of motivation: the human ball of intensity that is Kevin Garnett.

KG's reputation precedes him - a 15 time All-Star, 2004 Most Valuable Player and an NBA champion, the 39-year-old is one of the games greats; but it's the method in his madness that made him so unstoppable. Something Kyrgios wants to emulate.

"Garnett is like my spirit animal," Kyrgios writes.

"He’s my favorite player ever. Every guy wants him on their team, but nobody wants to face him. He’s so intense. The way he approaches the game is unreal.

“As a tennis player, there’s a lot I’ve learned from how insanely competitive KG is – even now, when he’s 39 years old, he’s still a maniac. He might offend some people, but at the end of the day sport is about winning or losing. Everything KG does, he does to help his team win.”

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Garnett is famed in NBA circles for his ferocious competitiveness, supreme intimidation and unshakable thirst for winning. He was the heart and soul of the Celtics 2008 title run.

Kyrgios has chosen a pretty good example to follow.

The 21-year-old went on to describe the great lengths he goes to just to watch his team play while he's on the road around the world, bleeding hotel WiFi dry just to catch Isaiah Thomas get buckets at the TD Garden.

"I think it has something to do with tennis being such an isolated sport. You’re one-on-one out there. What I love about playing hoops is the team aspect.

"Everything in my brain always goes back to basketball. Everything is a basketball analogy."