He lit up Margaret Court Arena with a fiery performance at the Australian Open overnight, and now teenager Nick Kyrgios has set the internet world ablaze.
The 18-year-old’s official website went into meltdown after receiving more than 250,000 clicks in the wake of his gritty second-round defeat to Frenchman Benoit Paire on Friday.
“Due to excess traffic and over 250,000 hits in 12 hours GTC’s @NickKyrgios website has crashed, we are working to resolve the issue,” Kyrgios’ management company Global Tennis Connections tweeted on Friday afternoon.
Kyrgios had posted a link to a new blog entry on the site about his five-set thriller just a few hours earlier.
And while the loss meant the end of his Australian Open campaign, last year’s boys champion appears to have attracted a legion of new fans.
The rising tennis star became one of the top-five most mentioned players on Twitter on day four of the Melbourne Park tournament, alongside heavyweights Rafael Nadal, Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer, as well close friend and fellow teen sensation Thanasi Kokkinakis – who lost in three sets to world No.1 Nadal earlier in the day.
His new-found fame also earned him Twitter’s blue tick of approval – granted only to those with sufficient gravitas, as chosen by the micro-blogging site.
“Oh hello little blue tick, I’ve been expecting you for some time! #verified #NKrising”, wrote Kyrgios.
The “proud Greek-Australian from Canberra” now boasts more than 13,600 followers – a number quickly rising.
So much so, he was forced to ask those wanting interviews to contact his management agency directly.
Kyrgios has been a prolific tweeter during the tournament, using site to drum up support ahead of his second-round clash and to thank fans afterwards.
“Atmosphere sounds sick right now on MCA, get me out there guys this is my crowd @AustralianOpen I wanna play! #StayAroundGuys #NKrising” he posted pre-match.