Nick Kyrgios has crashed out of the US Open in a blaze of broken rackets and bad language.
The 22-year-old lost to fellow Aussie John Millman 6-3 1-6 6-4 6-1 in the second round of the tournament after complaining about a niggling shoulder injury in the third set.
It was a miserable end to the Grand Slam for Kyrgios who spent much of the match berating his team for not supporting him loud enough.
Kyrgios was later issued a code violation for swearing after a linesman reported him for foul language.
News Corp reports that Kyrgios tried to argue with umpire Carlos Ramos, saying “I didn’t swear. You can’t give me a code. You don’t even know what I said.”
However, Ramos was having none of it and Kyrgios went on to drop serve again to hand Millman a two-sets-to-one advantage.
He promptly smashed his racket on the court, meaning he has now broken more rackets, 3 than he has won matches, 2 at Grand Slams in 2017.
In a post match conference Kyrgios said: “It’s the story of my career. I’ll have good weeks and bad weeks. It’s a roller coaster.”
It’s been a difficult year for the young tennis star who has faced repeated accusations of throwing matches and numerous on-court meltdowns.
In January, he had a verbal run-in with tennis legend John McEnroe who called Kyrgios “a black eye for the sport” and failed to make it past the early rounds of a Grand Slam.
Despite his hot temper though, tennis pros agree that Kyrgios is one of the best natural talents Australia has ever seen and that if he learns to control his mental game, he could be one of the greats.
For many Australians it seems it’s Kyrgios’ attitude that needs work, with comments about his “poor sportsmanship” flooding social media.
https://twitter.com/kensanityjr/status/902956596002603008
With Australia being a nation that prides itself on sportsmanship, it seems that for many, Kyrgios has a long way to go.