Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios is channelling his motivation into a new project, to build a centre for under-privileged kids in Melbourne.
Kyrgios -- fresh from defeat to Rafael Nadal in the final of the Beijing Open at the weekend -- revealed in the The Players' Voice, that he may not always have appeared to be motivated outside of the big-ticket events, but that a chance hit with a young boy suffering with a terminal brain tumour has changed his outlook.
Kyrgios said: "I remember Piotr with happiness and sadness. He was a little guy with terminal brain cancer. The We The People organisation put us in touch. I had a hit-up with Piotr instead of a practice session before my match at the Australian Open this year.
"Piotr said it was one of the best days of his life but, honestly, I'm not sure which of us had the better day! It was awesome. Piotr passed away a few months later. I will never forget him."
Kyrgios, in collaboration with his mother Norlaila and his brother Christos, is in the process of looking for sites, and help from local organisations and businesses to partner with them in the venture.
He continued: "If my vision is realised, it's my hope that I'll be remembered for this more than anything I have done or will do on the tennis court.
"I'll run tennis camps, shoot hoops, cook, clean-up ... whatever is needed. I don't reckon there can be anything better in life than giving kids a chance when they otherwise wouldn't have had one.
"I'm 22 and I've got lots left to learn. All I can tell you is the difference I feel inside now that I know how to channel my career -- the money, the publicity, the notoriety -- into something meaningful."