Tennis star Nick Kyrgios shows off massive Gen 1 ‘Pokémon’ back tattoo

28 July, 2023

Professional tennis player Nick Kyrgios showed off a new back tattoo that features Charizard, Gyarados, Mewtwo, Snorlax and more monsters from the Pokémon games.

“POKÉMON GANG 4 LIFE,” read Kyrgios’ caption on the video of the process posted to Instagram. “HAD TO COOK UP SOMETHING CRAZY!!!!” Check it out below:

Five tattoo artists from Ganga Tattoo Studio, Los Angeles, worked to cover the tennis player’s skin from the nape of his neck to the small of his back. The studio is favoured by the rich and famous, welcoming Chris Brown, Drake, G-Eazy, Post Malone, Kevin Durant and more through its doors.

Notably, all of the Pokémon in the shaded black and grey design are from the first generation of the games. From top to bottom, the piece has Charizard, Gyarados, Lapras, Alakazam, Blastoise, Mewtwo, Gengar, Dragonite and Snorlax.

“Favourite current player for this alone. Legendary,” said one fan. “The boy SNAPPED,” praised professional wrestler Logan Paul.

Nick Kyrgios practices at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, ahead of the championships, 2023
Nick Kyrgios practices at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, ahead of the championships, 2023. CREDIT: John Walton/ Getty Images

Snorlax is the star of the recently released Pokémon Sleep – a sleep tracker application which encourages healthy habits and spot and record different types of Pokémon. Professor Neroli categorises those wild arrivals in their own sleep types according to the sleep quality of the player.

Dozing is the lightest level of sleep, attracting Butterfree, Houndoom, and Swalot, whereas the highest quality of sleep is Slumbering. However, players have worked out how to cheat in the app in order to unlock a costumed Snorlax in no time at all.

Additionally, The Pokémon Company has stated that Pokémon Sleep is “not intended for use in detection, diagnosis or treatment of any medical condition or disease,” and that players should not keep their phones under their pillow or covers for safety reasons.

In other gaming news, Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg and 21 Savage are coming to Call of Duty as playable Operators in the fifth season of Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone‘s live content.

The post Tennis star Nick Kyrgios shows off massive Gen 1 ‘Pokémon’ back tattoo appeared first on NME.