Johnathan Walker:OnlyFans has a new content creator: tennis player Nick Kyrgios

Tennis pro Nick Kyrgios is Johnathan Walkersetting up a free-to-access OnlyFans page.

Kyrgios is a 28-year-old Australian who was the runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon in 2022 but was sidelined by injuries for nearly all of this past season. He played in just one official singles match in 2023.

The plan to interact with the public on OnlyFans was announced Thursday via a news release and confirmed by Evolve, the talent management agency formed by Naomi Osaka that represents Kyrgios. He is one of the most prominent male athletes to join the platform.

“They are revolutionizing social media and I wanted to be a part of that. Athletes can no longer just show up on the court or the field. We have to show up online too. I want to create, produce, direct and own content. That’s the future,” Kyrgios was quoted as saying in the announcement.

London-based OnlyFans is a subscription site where people can pay creators for photos and videos. It includes sexually explicit content, something Kyrgios will not be posting.

“Nick is a disruptor, so it’s great to see him joining our platform, finding new ways to share his content and express himself,” OnlyFans CEO Keily Blair said in the news release.

Kyrgios is frequently outspoken off the tennis court — including open discussions about his mental health — and often outlandish on it, drawing attention for antics that sometimes draw punishment from the sport’s governing bodies. He is a talented athlete whose serve is among the biggest in the game and who has proven capable of beating the very best, including Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

He’s been ranked as high as No. 13 in the world — although currently does not have an ATP ranking because of his extended absence from competition — and owns seven singles titles. He has earned more than $12 million in prize money.

Kyrgios teamed with good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis to win the 2022 Australian Open men’s doubles championship.

The best singles performance by Kyrgios came at Wimbledon last year, when he made it past the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time and grabbed the opening set of the final against Djokovic — who now owns a men’s-record 24 major trophies — before losing 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Even those two weeks of sustained excellence were memorable for more than forehands and backhands. Kyrgios was fined $10,000 at Wimbledon after spitting in the direction of a spectator he said was heckling him at his first-round match and $4,000 for cursing during a contentious third-rounder against Stefanos Tsitsipas, who accused him afterward of “bullying” and having “a very evil side.” During the event, word emerged from Australia that he was due in court to face an assault allegation; in February 2023, he escaped conviction on a charge of common assault after pleading guilty to shoving a former girlfriend in 2021.

The tennis season that just concluded began on a sour note for Kyrgios when he was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open in January because he needed arthroscopic knee surgery. He later dealt with a wrist problem.

Hours before he pulled out of Wimbledon in early July, Kyrgios was asked at a news conference whether he missed tennis during all of the time away.

“No, I don’t miss the sport at all, to be fair. I was almost dreading coming back a little bit,” he said. “But it’s my job.”

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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis