Nick Kyrgios missing in action as Melbourne United fails to get tennis star in the starting line-up

It was supposed to be the perfect PR opportunity with Melbourne United netting avid basketball fan Nick Kyrgios to stand alongside Chris Goulding, but they couldn’t get their man to don the singlet.

Japan's Naomi Osaka hits a return against Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova.

For someone who says he doesn’t really like tennis, Nick Kyrgios has spent a lot of time hanging around Melbourne Park this week.

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Given he lost in the opening round of the singles and doubles and then couldn’t find any takers to play mixed doubles, he could have been on a plane home to Canberra last Wednesday.

Instead Kyrgios has hung out in the corridors, mainly with his new bestie Gael Monfils who stayed in Melbourne despite his own early exit to watch his new girlfriend Elina Svitolina’s march to the quarter-finals.

The pair have spent a fair bit of time playing basketball at a local South Melbourne gym with Kyrgios’ love of hoops well known.

Melbourne United’s hierarchy saw this as a perfect PR opportunity and on Monday afternoon they sent out a press release saying the Aussie tennis star would be available for a media opportunity with Chris Goulding.

Melbourne United fails to land their man, Nick Kyrgios.

It was a genius move given the controversy surrounding the Davis Cup and Bernard Tomic’s spat with Lleyton Hewitt, so there was a guaranteed crowd to show up to get Kyrgios’ thoughts on the matter.

At 7am on Tuesday United sent out a release saying the presser had been cancelled due to “changing commitments” with Kyrgios but said he would be courtside on Wednesday night for the open-air game against Illawarra.

So they went ahead and got a special singlet with Kyrgios printed on the back and No.43, which is what Goulding wears.

Thoughts of a pre-game presentation were thrown about but they were quickly shelved when for a second time Kyrgios was a no-show.

This time the word doing the rounds of Melbourne Arena was a late illness had struck.

The cartoon which bore scant resemblance to Naomi Osaka.

OSAKA CAUGHT UP IN CARTOON FURORE

A Japanese noodle company has been forced to scrap a cartoon advert after accusations of “whitewashing” the star of the campaign, Naomi Osaka.

The cup noodle firm, Nissin, who sponsors the US Open women’s champion, portrayed the half-Haitian player with pale skin that bore scant resemblance to the 21-year-old.

“We never had the intention to do what is known as ‘whitewashing’, but with this becoming an issue, we will pay more attention to respect for diversity in our PR activities,” a spokesman for Nissin Foods said.

“We were trying to create them to match the world of Japanese animation.”

The company confirmed they’d initially obtained agreement from Osaka via her representatives.

Osaka, who has a Japanese mother, a Haitian father and was raised in the United States, has not commented publicly on the issue during her Australian Open campaign.

Japan's Naomi Osaka hits a return against Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova.

MARIA CHILLS OUT BACK AT HOME

Talk about one extreme to the other. On Monday when Maria Sharapova departed Melbourne it was a beautiful 29 degrees.

On Wednesday she posted this pic on Twitter showing the temperature at her current location, which we believe is Moscow, was five degrees Fahrenheit which is -15 Celsius.

Fahrenheit NOT Celsius 🥶 ❄️☃️ pic.twitter.com/4iOYABZ2Ra

— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) January 23, 2019

FAMILY SUPPORT FOR FLYING FRENCHMAN

Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert has gathered together his own local cheer squad in unique circumstances.

The doubles specialist, who along with fellow countryman Nicolas Mahut, on Thursday won through to the Australian Open final after defeating American pair Ryan Harrison and Sam Querrey.

After the straight sets victory on Margaret Court Arena, Herbert gave a shout out to his neighbours who were in the crowd supporting him.

It turns out Herbert and his team were staying at Airbnb accomodation in Flagstaff Lane in the city and had become friendly with a local family who live in the same building.

He then got the family, which includes three young kids, tickets to the semi-final where they came armed with signs supporting the Frenchman.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has quickly become a Melbourne favourite.

SECRET INGREDIENT TO THE TSITSIPAS SOUVLAKI

Fresh pomegranates is the secret ingredient Stefanos Tsitsipas requested for his trademark souvlaki which is now available at Melbourne institution Stalactites.

The Greek restaurant has only ever bestowed the honour once before when Marcos Baghdatis made it through to the Australian Open final in 2006.

After much consultation, the ingredients of the Tsitsipas Souvlaki include lamb, tomato, tzatziki, fresh pomegranate, fresh basil and mint, crumbed feta, chips, and a touch of chilli.

“We feel so proud of Stefanos’ achievements in the Australian Open, and we are excited to create a souvlaki in his honour,” Stalactites managing director Nicole Papasavas said.

The special souva will set you back $16 and given the popularity of the No.14 seed there are sure to be plenty of takers.

GRAND

Hats off to Rebecca Maddern who has hit back after copping criticism for her pronounciations, in particular of Anna Wintour. She continually went with “Winter” rather than “Win-touur” which upset many but the fashion icon herself later confirmed the Channel 9 host was on the money.

SLAM

We’re staying with our girl Anna. We get the black sunglasses are her look but enough is enough. Having them on when the roof is shut on Rod Laver Arena and doing indoor interviews looks a little bit silly.

THE WHISPER

Do we smell a whiff of censorship? It’s been four days since Pablo Carreno Busta produced an epic meltdown. You’d think he left Australia minus a fair bit of cash which previously was made public but the silence is defeaning from officials on all fines at this year’s Open.