Nick Kyrgios was left furious as he smashed two rackets and called the umpire “a tool” in a bad-tempered defeat to Karen Khachanov at the Cincinnati Masters.
The 24-year-old stormed off court after he lost the second set to the Russian against the wishes of umpire Fergus Murphy.
The Australian then proceeded to smash two rackets on the ground in a corridor and continued to rant at the umpire in the third set as Khachanov won 6-7 7-6 6-2 to reach the third round.
Khachanov said after the match that Kyrgios has “great talent” but “sometimes the head is not in the right place”.
He next takes on Lucas Pouille in the last 16 of the US Open warm-up tournament.
Kyrgios has history with this particular umpire: he also clashed with Murphy at the Washington Open two weeks ago and also swore at the official at Queen’s in June.
His anger took hold during the second set when he believed the shot clock was being started too early.
In an expletive-laden rant at Murphy, he said the umpire was “the worst, hands down” and was given a court violation.
When Khachanov clinched, Kyrgios told Murphy he was “a tool” and declined to shake the official’s hand.
