Hollywood A-lister’s cheeky dig at Nick Kyrgios

Josh O’Connor, best known for his role in Netflix’s The Crown, has offered some tongue-in-cheek advice to Nick Kyrgios.

British star Josh O’Connor has given a cheeky bit of advice to Nick Kyrgios.

The actor, best known for playing Prince Charles in Netflix’s The Crown, plays a cocky tennis player in the new movie Challengers, and has made no secret of the fact that he based part of his character on Kyrgios.

“I just took some little tips and little videos of him and took some advice from that,” O’Connor told news.com.au at the Sydney premiere of Challengers, which also stars Zendaya and Mike Faist.

When asked if he’d like to send a message to the Aussie tennis star, O’Connor obliged, saying: “You’re class. I love Kyrgios, he’s an amazing tennis player.”

He then chucked in a subtle dig, saying: “I mean maybe he could chill and just focus on winning some games (laughs), but I don’t care, he’s pure entertainment, I love him.”

Kyrgios will hopefully take on board O’Connor’s advice when he returns to professional tennis for the UTS tournament in New York in August.

The Aussie, once ranked 13 in the world, has been missing from the game since June last year due to injury.

But let’s get back to the movie, Challengers.

Challengers stars Mike Faist, Zendaya and Joshua O'Connor. Picture: Caroline McCredie

As mentioned, the film stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy-turned-coach.

She’s married to a tennis champ on a losing streak, Art Donaldson (played by Mike Faist), who enters a low-key tournament in the hopes of rebuilding his career.

During that tournament, he comes face-to-face with his former best friend and doubles partner, Patrick Zweig (played by Josh O’Connor).

The two men fell out years ago over Tashi, who dated Patrick before she married Art.

The film is due out in Australia on April 18.

Originally published as Hollywood A-lister’s cheeky dig at Nick Kyrgios