Over the past month, Nick Kyrgios has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
The 26-year-old’s losing streak continued with his third consecutive defeat at the Canadian Open on Tuesday. However, it isn’t just Kyrgios’ performance that people took note of, but rather his blowup with the chair umpire.
The Aussie — who was accepted into the Canadian Open as a wildcard — insisted his opponent Riley Opelka’s foot touched the net with the second set tiebreak even at 4-4.
“What are you watching? I saw his foot touch the net and you’re not going to call it,” Kyrgios yelled at the tournament official.
“What else could you be watching, bro? I can see his foot touch the net from where I am, and you don’t call anything. It’s a joke, bro. It cost me the f–king set. Bulls–t.”
Members in the crowd mocked Kyrgios as he fought with the chair umpire. He ended his tirade by thwacking a ball into the stands.
Opelka was awarded the point and went on to win the tiebreak, then the third set, 6-4, to complete the comeback. Opelka will go head-to-head with world No. 21 Grigor Dimitrov next.
Kyrgios’ future is seemingly up in the air at the moment.
“I’m not feeling the severity of certain points, and I don’t feel the pressure as much as obviously playing week in, week out,” Kyrgios said after an opening-round loss at the Citi Open to Mackenzie McDonald.
“You feel when you kind of have to press, when you kind of have to relax, when you kind of coast, when you kind of push. I don’t really feel like my body and my mind quite understand the severity of some points here or there because I haven’t played that much.
“I know that I’m going to be dealing with a lot of s–t now on social media. Like, my head’s in the shed, to be honest. I don’t know, I didn’t play great.”