I think a lot of Americans don’t realize how big Australian stars are in Australia, so they seem kind of random in other contexts. There was a comment the other day because someone couldn’t believe Giddey has a $40 million cereal endorsement, but when you realize he’s the biggest young basketball star in Australia he’s going to get the biggest Australian player endorsements. Kyrgios is similar in that he’s the biggest tennis star right now from Australia so he gets a lot more attention in general. Media in Australia talk about both players along side Lebron and Djokovic, so if you were a casual sports fan living in Australia you might legitimately assume they are two of the best athletes in the world.

The other thing is that Australia is without a doubt the sportiest country in the world. They follow all sports, and many Australians are just as invested in the NBA, NFL, MLB, etc as Americans. So when one of their players is even in the top 20 globally it’s a huge deal. Aussies are so sporty they have to have two versions of Rugby and AFL just to have enough contact sports and they still watch NFL and even NHL.

If Australia only had one rugby and no AFL, there would be no Rugby World Cub because no one else could compete. The country only has ~25 million people and a couple years ago there were more Australians in the NBA than Canadians. At one point three straight #1 draft picks were all born in Melbourne.

Then you look at (*Summer) Olympic gold medals and every year Australia is up there with huge countries like USA, China, Russia.

And they even beat India and Pakistan in cricket! There are one billion people in India and the only sport they play is cricket, yet the few Australians who aren’t playing Union Rugby, Rugby League, AFL, soccer, swimming, basketball, men’s field hockey, golf, tennis, surfing, track & field, and so on manage to beat India in the Cricket World Cup.

Australia is fucking crazy which is why I’ve been living here for 12 years as an American and don’t have any plans to return.

EDIT: the most interesting part - I which is polar opposite to America - is how big stars and celebrities are treated off camera by every day people. Kyrgios and Giddey are two of the biggest sports stars, but if they were walking down the street in Sydney they wouldn’t be hounded by paparazzi and people asking for photos/autographs. In Australia and New Zealand there’s this concept of ‘tall poppy syndrome’ where people have an attitude of “you think you’re better than me just because you’re famous?” Because it’s such a small country with half the population basically living in either Sydney or Melbourne, you do see famous people fairly often but no one makes a big deal about it.

The first time I really understood was when picking up my baggage at luggage claim in the airport, and one of the two candidates for Prime Minister was standing next to me picking up his own baggage. I know the Australian PM is not on the same level as the UK PM or the American President, but this dude was by himself and no one around us seemed to give two shits. (It was Bill Shorten, if you’re wondering) I think was a bodyguard/driver nearby but Bill was there at the carousel next to me grabbing his own shit like he wasn’t days away from being an actual G12 country’s Prime Minister. Once you get to a country where celebrity isn’t worshipped you realize how fucking weird and toxic it all is. I’ve seen a lot of celebrities in Sydney, even American ones, and the only time I’ve seen anyone ask for an autograph/photo was foreign tourists near the Opera House when they spotted Anthony Mundine.