Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios turned plenty of heads last week after calling out Ben Stiller during a quarter-final defeat to Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells.
Kyrgios struggled to deal with a vocal crowd during an entertaining match and towards the end of their clash used the American actor to make point.
Exchanging words with a heckler, Kyrgios pointed to a nearby Stiller in the front row and said, “Do I tell him how to act? No!”
The unlikely exchange quickly went viral with Stiller since reaching out to the Australian via Twitter with a surprise offer.
“Great match today,” Stiller commented on a tweet from Kyrgios.
“Thanks…maybe we can start working on the next film together, I think I got some acting in me…how is your tennis?” Kyrgios responded.
“I could use some help with my serve but maybe a new doubles team? We can discuss it on set…” Stiller replied.
With Kyrgios quickly tweeting, “Done.”
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 18, 2022
Kyrgios has taken doubles tennis by storm this year after teaming up with countryman and close friend Thanasi Kokkinakis to take out an Australian Open title.
Former doubles star Todd Woodbridge recently suggested Kyrgios can only get better by embracing the team-side of tennis.
Stiller himself is no stranger to doubles either and recently recalled on The Tonight Show how he found himself playing alongside Rafael Nadal one night.
“I got to know him (Nadal) about seven or eight years ago. He invited me a few years ago to see an exhibition match at Maddison Square Garden which was really exciting,” Stiller said.
“We got to sit in the front row and it was him and Juan Martin del Potro.
“So they were doing the match and about halfway through the match Nadal stops and goes, ‘Wait, should we make it doubles?’
“Then he looks at me and goes, ‘Come on, Ben Stiller’.
“It was a dream come true…but it was also this nightmare happening simultaneously because I realise I really don’t play tennis.
“I got out there and then Del Potro pulls an eight-year-old girl out from the crowd…
“So Nadal serves it, the eight-year-old girls hits it back perfectly across the net, the crowd cheers, comes to me, boom, right into the net.”
