Reading the biography of Giannis Antetokounmpo by the Spanish sports journalist and writer José Manuel Puertas, we felt inspired by the Athenian adventure of the so-called “Greek freak”. Giannis always knew he would get this far.
The court in Zografou
The story about the basketball court in Zografou, the first favourite address of Giannis Antetokounmpo, is already quite typical. In order for Giannis to get there from Sepolia –the favourite neighbourhood of “The Golden Dawn’s” supporters- he needed a “white shield”, namely, the company of his then teammate Alexandros Zogas. One day the latter accidentally took Giannis’ old ball. “The next day he was frantically searching for it,” he recalls, “and I reassured him that I would take it to him.” and Antetokounmpo had replied, “It’s not just a ball. One day you will be boasting that you had the ball of Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Lakers’ player.”
The court in Sepolia
Triton court in Sepolia was Giannis’ second Athenian stop. This seemingly insignificant court – by domestic league standards – undoubtedly experienced its greatest moment on June 29, 2019, when Nike chose the Triton court to present the Zoom Freak One, the brand’s first pair of shoes dedicated to a European player. It was a very impressive event covered by journalists from all over the world, with thousands of Antetokounmpo’s fans flooding even the neighbouring balconies just to steal a glance at him. Dyrrachiou Street, which defined Antetokounmpo’s youthful years, was decorated as if Sepolia was living its own urban version of a national holiday; music at high volume, strobe lights and giant screens. Everything was taken care of down to the last detail in order to highlight the neighbourhood to which Giannis has always felt he belongs. “I don’t have to be the Greek Freak there, I’m just me,” he explains.
Kivotos Café
The third stop on Antetokounmpo’s Athenian journey, very close to Agios Meletios, at Dyrrachiou Street, is the once humble café “Kivotos”. The café has been operating since 1964 and in recent years it has been run by Giannis and Katie Tzika, a couple of fervent basketball fans. Their favourite sport features prominently in the store’s decor, which is of course adorned with John’s signature jerseys, one from the national team’s participation in the 2014 World Cup and the one he wore four years later at the 2018 All-Star Game at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles.
It was around the begging of the 21st century when the Antetokounmpo brothers started going to their favourite cosy café every day. Kivotos café also served as a place of solidarity for the Antetokounmpo brothers. According to the story told by Katie Tzika to Giannis’ Spanish biographer, at some point they realized that the Antetokounmpo brothers (Giannis and Thanasis) came to the court every day and did not have a single penny on them. “We told them they could come by every day and we would give them a sandwich, some juice and an apple.” Thus, a very special bond began to form between the Antetokounmpo brothers and the owners of the café that was the source of inspiration for this “strange” media kit with the sandwich, juice and apple that was given to journalists from around the world at the Nike event in Sepolia. For the record, Café Kivotos prepared a sumptuous meal for the event hosts and journalists, commemorating how the two brothers of a family who are now multimillionaires got their start.
It was around the begging of the 21st century when the Antetokounmpo brothers started going to their favourite cosy café every day. Kivotos café also served as a place of solidarity for the Antetokounmpo brothers. According to the story told by Katie Tzika to Giannis’ Spanish biographer, at some point they realized that the Antetokounmpo brothers (Giannis and Thanasis) came to the court every day and did not have a single penny on them. “We told them they could come by every day and we would give them a sandwich, some juice and an apple.” Thus, a very special bond began to form between the Antetokounmpo brothers and the owners of the café that was the source of inspiration for this “strange” media kit with the sandwich, juice and apple that was given to journalists from around the world at the Nike event in Sepolia. For the record, Café Kivotos prepared a sumptuous meal for the event hosts and journalists, commemorating how the two brothers of a family who are now multimillionaires got their start.
Dennis Grill
The fourth favourite stop on the Athenian journey of the first and difficult years of the Antetokounmpo brothers was Dennis Grill on Papagos Avenue in Zografou. There, Spyros Velliniatis, the coach who discovered Giannis, used to organize banquets for the Antetokounmpo brothers for more than a year. According to Spyros Velliniatis, once, after a game, Thanasis Antetokounmpo managed to eat seven pita gyros, leaving everyone around overwhelmed by the gastronomic spectacle.
The church of Agios Meletios
On the road to Sepolia, at 104 Dyrrachiou Street, stands a landmark of Giannis Antetokounmpo’s adolescence: the Orthodox church of Agios Meletios, where Father Evangelos Ganas, the spiritual father of Giannis in his adolescence, offers church service. It was there that the personality of the Greek basketball player was cultivated· a personality with enormous reserves of faith. At the age of 17, on the 28th of October, Giannis was baptized, with an old teammate of his, Dinos Difantis, as godfather.
There were many stops on Giannis Antetokounmpo’s path towards his dream, such as the Vyronas Sports School and then the All Star Basketball Camp in Loutraki. But the four Athenian addresses mentioned above are the ones that Giannis will have forever etched in his memory.
