A week after he retired from a 20-year stint with the Los Angeles Lakers, basketball legend Kobe Bryant picked up a tennis racquet and instantly fell in love with the game. He wanted to teach his daughters Gianna, Bianka, Natalia and Capri how to navigate through life and thought tennis could help.

"When my mind started drifting towards storytelling more than it started drifting towards basketball, that's when I knew it was time to go," Bryant said in an interview with Jon Wertheim in 2019.

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Just three years into his retirement, Bryant was thriving with his off-court career endeavors. After winning an Oscar for an animated short film about basketball, he published a children's book about tennis called "Legacy and the Queen." When he met with Wertheim and attended the 2019 US Open, he was promoting the book.

Then on Jan. 26, 2020, Kobe passed away in a tragic helicopter accident alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna. Although the basketball legend is no longer with us, his legendary "mamba" mindset and everything he embodied lives on and has touched so many within the tennis community.

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Nick Kyrgios, Naomi Osaka, Jessica Pegula and more top names idolize the late basketball legend.

Kyrgios is deeply inspired by Kobe and following his sudden passing, he had a mural of him tattooed on his arm. The current world No. 47 also donned his jersey at last year's Australian Open during his fourth-round warm up with Rafael Nadal on Rod Laver Arena.

"It was painful, but it was worth it and when I look down there (arm) it just reminds me how great he was. Not just as a basketball player but as a person," Kyrgios said.

Osaka became quite close to Kobe and credits him for helping her get through the toughest part of her tennis career. The 23-year-old had claimed the 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian Open, but she would struggle some of the rest of 2019.

The world No. 3 gained insight on how to overcome adversity from Kobe, who experienced his own ups and downs during his career.

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During her latest Grand Slam triumph at the 2020 US Open, Osaka wore his jersey every day after her matches.

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"Tennis, you're out there on your own. You have to figure out that, I just hit three bad shots, but those have nothing to do with the next shot. Put those behind me, move on," Bryan said in 2019. "Same thing with great shots, I just played a great set, I won the first set, but you can't dwell on it. How do you navigate those inner emotions and tennis is a great metaphor for that."

It's been over a year since Kobe's passing, but his flame is still burning bright and serves as a guiding light for tennis' best.