Nick Kyrgios’ bizarre behaviour in Madrid Masters loss to Jan-Lennard Struff

Blink and you might have missed Nick Kyrgios’ clay-court season opener. He underarm served, smashed a racket and had some weird gear.

Nick Kyrgios had been in Australia up until recently as he took some time off, but his absence from the ATP Tour may not have actually made his heart grow fonder.

Playing his first clay court tournament for the season at the prestigious Madrid Masters, Kyrgios was bundled out by Germany’s world No. 48 Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 in a little over an hour.

Made of the right Struff!@Struffitennis beats Kyrgios 7-6(4) 6-4 in Madrid to reach round 2.#MMOpen pic.twitter.com/9DkoHv1lQs

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 5, 2019

The match saw Kyrgios booed by Spanish fans after he attempted an underarm serve — which he netted — in the opening set.

But perhaps they and we should have known what was coming as the 24-year-old Australian world No. 34 rolled onto court Aranxta Sanchez with a spare pair of shoes, and just two rackets in what appeared to be a trendy Herschel backpack.

Kyrgios has the right to carry anything he wants on to court — for all we know an airline may have lost his bag of Yonex gear — but given his past reputation for some interesting performances it’s hard to say this was anything but another case of simply not caring too much.

Kyrgios was broken twice in the match where the pair belted down 21 aces between them but at it’s conclusion, the Australian sat down on his chair and not for the first time whipped out his mobile phone.

Nick Kyrgios not too concerned he just lost his 1st Round match in Madrid #ATP #MMOpen 📱🎾 pic.twitter.com/lkuXuBPB02

— John Horn (@SportsHorn) May 5, 2019

The drop shot-happy Kyrgios was out-muscled by the German and while the first set was close on the scoreboard, Struff dominated play with Kyrgios winning just three points on his opponent’s serve across six games and a tie-breaker.

It looked like things would turn around as Kyrgios capitalised on a double fault and some unforced errors by world No. 48 Struff as he claimed a break in the opening game of the second set.

But the advantage wasn’t to last.

Struff ultimately levelled at 2-2, games staying on serve until he broke Kyrgios comfortably at 5-4 to take the match.

The German had been in recent good touch on clay with a quarter-final run at the Barcelona Open where he enjoyed wins over David Goffin and Stefanos Tsitsipas before going down to Rafael Nadal.

Nick Kyrgios let his racket have it.

Kyrgios’ one outburst occurred after Struff won a point to serve for the first set, Kyrgios breaking his racquet in frustration and earning a warning.

Kyrgios had been playing his first match since the Miami Open in March when he lost to Borna Coric in the round of 16.

Twitter naturally went into meltdown over the performance as analysts and fans alike were left bemused by what they had just witnessed.

Hi there.

Given what we've seen in the past from him, I don't think 'just being Kyrgios' is incorrect. But hey, we never know eh?

He also tried the SABN a handful of times, most on Struff's huge first serve, there was a 'tweener and a very ambitious leaping forehand smash...

— Ravi Ubha (@raviubha) May 5, 2019

It doesn't always work 😏@NickKyrgios #MMOpen pic.twitter.com/bv3XOeUPDD

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 5, 2019

Imagine waiting for Kyrgios for more than a month to play and boom he’s out in first round. This boy is not serious at all and is not ready to.

— Robarry_ (@united_roger) May 5, 2019

—With AAP

Originally published as Nick Kyrgios’ bizarre behaviour in Madrid Masters loss to Jan-Lennard Struff