Canberra tennis sensation Nick Kyrgios flew straight into the arms of his family as he returned home from his Wimbledon heroics to a throng of friends, supporters and media at Canberra airport on Sunday morning.
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After giving his mother Nill, dad George and brother Christos big hugs, the 19-year-old set about signing Canberra Timesposters and giant tennis balls for ACT kids who want to follow in their idol's footsteps.
Even the Victorian under-17 volleyball teams, who were on the same plane from Melbourne, milled around trying to get selfieswith the rising star.
Kyrgios stunned the tennis world with his four-set victory over world No.1 Rafael Nadal earlier in the week, which put him through to the Wimbledon quarter-finals, where he lost to Canada's Milos Raonic on Thursday.
Always the showman, Kyrgios was almost the last off his plane as the expectation built about his return.
He will celebrate with his family at a Malaysian restaurant on Sunday night.
"I've missed all my family members and it's really good to be back home and just relax - obviously not relaxing just yet, but soon," Kyrgios said.
"It's awesome [having so many people here], it's why you do the work, it's why you want to succeed so badly so you can come home to all this stuff.
"It's really good all the support I'm getting."
The Kyrgios family is incredibly close, with Mrs Kyrgios feeling a sense of relief at the return of her son.
She didn't sleep for more than 24 hours after he son's victory over Nadal as the media storm gathered outside their home.
"I'm relieved because I know now he can just reflect on what he's done," Mrs Kyrgios said.
"I don't think it's really sunk in that there's the person that you want to be and you've actually beaten him.
"I don't think he's had time to reflect on that. We'll sit down, have a bit of a laugh ... for the next few days we can forget about the tennis for a while and be a normal family."
Charlie Camus was one of the die-hard tennis fans there to welcome Kyrgios home.
The seven-year-old wants to follow in the footsteps of his idol and is already training 15 hours a week - and he went straight from the airport to the tennis court.
His goal was a clear one.
"I want to be No.1 in the world," Charlie said.
Kyrgios is now preparing for the US Open, which starts on August 25.
