{"id":308028,"date":"2025-12-10T01:58:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:58:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/308028\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T01:58:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T01:58:15","slug":"kyrgios-debuts-new-sponsor-as-nike-deal-ends-ahead-of-bbc-battle-of-the-sexes-tennis-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/308028\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyrgios debuts new sponsor as Nike deal ends ahead of BBC Battle of the Sexes | Tennis | Sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nick Kyrgios<\/a> returned to unofficial competition at two exhibition events over the weekend – The Atlanta Cup and the Tennis Garden Cup – and debuted a new look. The Australian ace had a long-standing partnership with Nike, but wore a Stack Athletics kit as he took on Ben Shelton<\/a> in Atlanta and Tommy Paul in New York, while Aryna Sabalenka<\/a> and Naomi Osaka<\/a> also faced off.<\/p>\n

The 2022 Wimbledon<\/a> runner-up was announced as the new owner and creative director of Stack Athletics late last month, and took to the court wearing a black t-shirt, beige shorts, and his signature backwards cap – all created by Stack.<\/p>\n

When their partnership was announced last month, former world No. 13 Kyrgios said: \u201cStack represents everything I stand for – making noise and pushing boundaries. We\u2019re building a brand with real personality. If it doesn\u2019t make people feel something, I\u2019m not interested.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new partnership – and Kyrgios\u2019 role as owner and creative director – comes just weeks before the 30-year-old is due to face Sabalenka in a \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019<\/a>. Kyrgios, who is now ranked outside of the world\u2019s top 600 after spending the last three years battling knee and wrist injuries, will face the WTA No. 1 in Dubai on December 28.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the fourth match in history billed as a \u2018Battle of the Sexes\u2019. Most famously, Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in three straight sets in September 1973. Riggs beat Margaret Court in two sets earlier that year, while Martina Navratilova lost to Jimmy Connors in 1992.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios\u2019 showdown with Sabalenka will be broadcast on BBC One<\/a> on December 28 from 3.45pm UK time, with Clare Balding presenting coverage and Andrew Cotter leading commentary.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios and Sabalenka have both been in action at the exhibition events in Atlanta and New York over the past few days, and faced off in mixed doubles. And they\u2019ve continued to bring the trash talk ahead of their match in Dubai.<\/p>\n

Four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka filmed a TikTok<\/a> video with Kyrgios, pretending to shove into him as they walked past one another. \u201cExcuse me, bruh,\u201d Sabalenka lip-synced. Joining in, Kyrgios mouthed: \u201cYou\u2019re excused, and I\u2019m not your bruh.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Battle of the Sexes is just one of several exhibition events Kyrgios has signed up for as he looks to make another comeback next year. The 30-year-old will compete in the One Point Slam<\/a> ahead of the Australian Open<\/a>, which pits the professionals against amateur players, with \u00a3500k (AUD$1m) on the line. World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz<\/a> has committed to the event.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios has also signed up for the eight-man MGM Slam in Las Vegas next March, with Taylor Fritz<\/a>, Lorenzo Musetti<\/a>, Alexander Bublik<\/a>, Casper Ruud<\/a>, Joao Fonseca<\/a>, Gael Monfils<\/a> also set to be in action. When it comes to official tour-level events, the Aussie\u2019s protected ranking has expired, but he\u2019ll be hoping to get a wildcard into the Australian Open singles draw next January if he feels ready to compete at the top.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nick Kyrgios returned to unofficial competition at two exhibition events over the weekend – The Atlanta Cup and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[7307,54019,952,123050,123048,3296,101,123049,118,872,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-308028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-aryna-sabalenka","tag-battle-of-the-sexes","tag-nick-kyrgios","tag-nick-kyrgios-sponsor","tag-nick-kyrgios-vs-aryna-sabalenka","tag-nike","tag-sports","tag-stack-athletics","tag-tennis","tag-tennis-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}