The Nick Kyrgios Impromptu Kids’ Day and Posse Gathering

If there’s one thing Cincinnati’s 2016 Masters tennis tournament will be remembered for, it’s rain delays. With an unprecedented 8 of 9 days with weather-related stoppages of play, the tourney became an exercise in frustration for both players and fans alike.

On Monday, however, Australian player Nick Kyrgios turned lemons into lemonade, which is more than we can say for the new Aunt Annie’s pretzel carts with their faux fruity drinks. When yet another downpour rendered the courts useless for serious play, NK decided to host his own impromptu Kids’ Day on Court 11.

As you can see above, a decent crowd was gathered for Nick’s practice on the court at left, despite the puddles of water everywhere.

Once Nick and his team decided that a safe practice was impossible on the slippery courts, some spectators shouted out suggestions in favor of letting the nearby kids have a go of it. It took only the slightest hint of assent from Kyrgios and a group of boy fans hastily climbed over the fence (of course ignoring the nearby gate).

Unprepared for group tennis, NK had to borrow an extra cup of sugar racquet from his obliging neighbor on the next court, Jean-Julien Rojer. Then it was game-on. Take a peek at the video below for all the the fast action taking place inside the service boxes.

Then the crowd clamored for some equality, and it wasn’t long before a cluster of gals had clambered over the fence (also ignoring the gate) to have their chance at a hit with their favorite mohawked Aussie.

There was an ominous side to the games that day, however. When these kids had agreed to the loser “taking on Nick’s serve,” they hadn’t realized it wasn’t your average return of serve. No, NK had meant it was the tennis equivalent of dodge ball–without being allowed to dodge. JD managed to capture some more video of the amusing yet terrifyingly ridiculous peril these kids put themselves in. (For the record, NK did not appear to be hitting any 140 mph serves.) The best part is how invested the crowd gets in the suspense.

The young ladies on court apparently got a chance for this “honor” as well, though there were only some near-misses that may haunt them until they do something even more stupid later in life. JD did not take any video of booty-shorted teenage girls assuming the crash position…as he did not want to be arrested, so we’ll leave that to your imagination.

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After winners and losers celebrated their fates, Nick allowed the gals to take some totally shareable selfies.

While Nick got in a few warm-up level rallies to round out his practice day, the happy fangirls clustered together to critique each other’s selfies.

The story doesn’t end there, however, thanks to roving reporter JD. He spotted the same boys from Kyrgios’ Kids’ Day on Tuesday, walking with NK himself, all sporting visitor passes and clutching a variety of Graeter’s ice cream delicacies. Make of that what you will, but it looked like the young tennis player had put together his new Cincy posse for the week.

ETA: As the awesome LaWanda confirms:

@TennisInsideOut Yes the kids followed Nick and security tried to stop the kid as Nick went through exit but Nick waved security off. He

— LaWanda (@lawanda50) August 31, 2016

@TennisInsideOut took them straight to the security tent outside. A few minutes later to the shock of security the kids came back with

— LaWanda (@lawanda50) August 31, 2016

@TennisInsideOut credentials. You could tell the kids felt important.

— LaWanda (@lawanda50) August 31, 2016

So while many of us may recollect Cincy ’16 for its rain delays, a bunch of kids may well remember this as the BEST TOURNEY EVAH.