NBL star reveals he only signed for his club because he thinks Wimbledon will be played in Melbourne
Moment basketball star reveals he only signed with his club because he thinks Wimbledon will be played at their home court in MELBOURNE before his coach corrects him: ‘Australian Open, bro!’
A star basketball player in Australia’s NBL league has been embarrassed after revealing he only signed for his Australian club because he believed Wimbledon will be played at their home court in Melbourne.
Gary Browne is an import player for the South East Melbourne Phoenix in the NBL, signing with the club for the 2022/23 season.
Confusion reigned after South East Melbourne NBL player Gary Browne (right) revealed he had signed for the club because Wimbledon was being played at their home arena
He played a match-winning role in Saturday’s ‘Throwdown’ match against city rivals Melbourne United and fronted the media following the 78-72 victory at the John Cain Arena.
John Cain Arena is also home to the show court for the Australian Open tennis tournament.
Browne was asked how he felt about playing to a large Aussie crowd after over 5,000 fans turned up for the Throwdown match.
His response should have been a huge revelation, but it ended up being anything but.
“To be honest, I’ve played a lot of places and big places and I’ve traveled the world and played big venues,” said Browne.
“But one of the main reasons, she [coach and teammates] I don’t know, but I signed because the arena here is a big arena. What I discovered is that they play the Wimbledon tournament here.’
Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell quickly intervened: “Australian Open, bro. We’re not in England.’
Nick Kyrgios went on a massive killer run to reach his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon this year, where he fell to champion Novak Djokovic
Barty kisses the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after winning the 2022 Australian Open final against Danielle Collins of the United States
“Anyway, I’m not even mad,” laughed an embarrassed Browne Jr.
“Playing in the big arena with our fans is something I look forward to [to] every time. I like to play at home.’
Browne’s full name is Gary Browne Ramírez and he is a Puerto Rican professional basketball player who was educated in Jacksonville, Florida before playing at West Virginia University.
Despite being eligible for the 2015 NBA Draft, Browne was not selected. The 29-year-old point guard has played in leagues around the world, including Puerto Rico, TurkeyItaly and also represents the Puerto Rico national basketball team.
The victory over Melbourne was a huge turnaround for the Phoenix after they were thrashed by the New Zealand Breakers just two days before crossing the ditch by 26 points in a performance Mitchell called ‘trash’.
‘It went a lot better [tonight]”I was not happy at all with the performance in New Zealand,” he said.
Browne under pressure from Xavier Rathan-Mayes during the ninth round NBL match between South East Melbourne Phoenix and Melbourne United at John Cain Arena
The Phoenix’s Trey Kell III and Gary Browne pose for a photo after the round 8 NBL game between South East Melbourne Phoenix and Illawarra Hawks at John Cain Arena
Thanks to them, they were great, but we were really bad. I think it was a matter of personal pride. We watched a video before we got on the floor letting them blow past us, poking at some guys’ personal pride to make sure they were right.
“Some guys carried injuries into the game, but there are no excuses once you’re on the floor. It can’t happen, what happened in New Zealand.’
The match soured somewhat with an incident in the crowd in which two men were ejected from the stadium and several children left in tears.
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Source: Dailymail
