Nikoloz Basilashvili – China’s New Heart-throb?
Asian tennis fans are feeling quite lucky as China’s hosting of the China Open and Shanghai Masters tournament gives them a chance to meet the already-established and up-and-coming tennis stars.
Nikoloz Basilashvili, world rank 26, is one of them. Thanks to Basilashvili’s talent as well as his looks, the successful Georgian tennis player has been getting more and more international attention. And it turns out that Basilashvili has fans even in far-away China.
One of Basilashvili’s Chinese fans is a girl with Instagram user @zoe.7777777. Zoe followed Basilashvili from Beijing to Shanghai, finally making her dream come true when she took a picture with him in Shanghai. The girl posted pictures of herself and a friend holding two banners; one that had Georgian flag painted on it and the other one that said: “Nikoloz come on”. The latter also had “Niko Family” written on it, suggesting that there is a fandom in the country supporting Basilashvili.
Basilashvili has been competing successfully in the Shanghai tournament so far. On October 7, he defeated Paire 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
By Nini Dakhundaridze