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Gibbs on Federer, Murray, Steph Curry

Kieran Gibbs, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Steph Curry

He’s made his name as an attacking full-back, but football isn’t Kieran Gibbs’ only passion.

The England international is also a big fan of tennis and basketball, and idolises some of their biggest names.

“I’ve played since I can remember,” he told Arsenal Player. “If I spend some time in Miami, I have a friend out there who’s a tennis coach and trains me. I just like the game - I love Wimbledon and I like some of the players involved in the game.

“A lot of my heroes are tennis players - Federer, and I’m a big fan of Murray.

“I like basketball. I watch it quite a bit when I can and [Steph Curry] is one of the players I watch. It’s the fact that he was late developing physically [that I admire].

“No one really gave him a look in because of his size and I was a bit like that when I first came to the club at 14. I was a lot smaller - you can see in the pictures - than a lot of my team-mates. They were already fully grown at 14 for some reason… it was just crazy.

“He was a late developer and he just showed that it’s not really about size. He never stopped trying and he’s an incredible player but mentally he’s shown that he can overcome quite a lot of doubt in other people by sticking to his game - he’s changed the game.”