Nick Kyrgios' tears: he paid homage to Kobe Bryant by wearing his shirt

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Nick Kyrgios in tears with Kobe Bryant's shirt before the match against Rafael Nadal. The Australian paid homage to the Los Angeles Lakers legend wearing his shirt number 8 during the Australian Open fourth round challenge with Nadal, won by the Spaniard in four sets with the final score of 6-3 3-6 7-6 (6) 7-6 (4).

Kyrgios cried before entering to the Rod Laver Arena. The legendary basketball player died yesterday in a helicopter crash near Calabasas, in the county of Los Angeles (California), together with his 13 years-old daughter Gianna and another seven people.

The sheriff's investigations are still ongoing but it seems that the most likely cause of the accident was the dense fog, which often envelops the Californian hills. Visibility was so low on Sunday morning that Los Angeles police held their helicopters on the ground.

The legend of the Los Angeles Lakers, however, which left John Wayne airport in Orange County, got up and crashed just over 40 minutes later in the Calabasas area, west of Los Angeles, after flying over the city. Due to the difficult to reach area it will take more time to identify the other victims: for now it is known that there would be Christina Mauser, assistant coach of Kobe in her daughter's team, John Altobelli, baseball coach at Orange Coast College with her daughter Alyssa, 13 years-old teammate of Gianna Bryant.

Kyrgios is just one of the many tennis players who paid homage to Bryant, moved in a tragedy that shook the whole world of sport. Emotional messages also came through social media from Matteo Berrettini, Denis Shapovalov, Kim Clijisters, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and many others.