‘How is that possible?’: Nick Kyrgios turns on umpire, Aussie fans

From a smashed racquet to a cheeky move with the sweat towels, Aussie tennis star Nick Kyrgios has given the world a match to remember.

Nick Kyrgios has had a go out the crowd and umpire multiple times during his match against world no. 2 Daniil Medvedev. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

A racquet thrown to the floor, blow ups at the crowd and umpire, and sensational tennis, in typical Nick Kyrgios fashion, the Aussie tennis star has given the country a match to remember.

Kyrgios put up quite a fight in round two of the Australian Open on Thursday night but ended up losing 7-6 6-4 4-6 6-2 to world no. 2 Daniil Medvedev.

It only took until 4-4 in the first set at Rod Laver Arena for Kyrgios to blow up at the umpire and rowdy crowd – who may have been trying to recreate the wild atmosphere felt at Kyrgios’ first round match at John Cain Arena.

“Can you please stop screaming out while I’m f***ing serving,” he yelled after serving a fault.

“You’re not going to tell them to quiet down just before I serve?” he asked the umpire.

The umpire then told the crowd to “please respect” the players during their service motion.

Kyrgios added: “You’ve got 25 seconds to scream whatever you want and you decide to do it as I serve. Good brains yeah.”

Nick Kyrgios was annoyed at the umpire for no controlling the crowd. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Kyrgios smashed his racquet. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

It was one of three heated arguments Kyrgios had with the umpire during the match. In the first set he blew up after being pinged for taking too long to get back to the baseline and prepare to return a serve.

“I play a long point, I instantly walk to my towel — instantly. I come back and there’s seven seconds on the clock — how is that possible?” he complained.

“There can’t be seven seconds, it can’t happen.”

Clearly listening to Kyrgios’ request, during the third set the crowd had his back yelling a collective “shut up” at someone who was screaming while Kyrgios was trying to serve.

When someone from the crowd yelled during Medvedev’s serve, Kyrgios showed frustration on behalf of his opponent, yelling at the crowd “come on”.

Despite his win, Medvedev was not happy with the crowd’s behaviour and he let them know in his post-match interview on court.

“Show some respect,” he told the crowd, saying he couldn’t hear interviewer Jim Courier.

In a press conference on Thursday night Kyrgios said it was the umpire’s job to control the crowd and was frustrated it wasn’t done.

“I think it’s actually the umpire’s job to control the crowd rather than try to be the star, because no one came to watch the umpire play tennis,” Kyrgios said. “That’s his job to control the crowd and monitor it.

“Like, a bit of common sense at times, giving someone a time violation at 0-40 down

is probably not controlling the crowd. There are other things you could be doing in monitoring.”

But Kyrgios added the atmosphere was “awesome” and he expected the crowd to be like it was.

Russia's Daniil Medvedev was also unimpressed with the crowd. Picture: William West / AFP

The crowd saw a different Kyrgios compared to Tuesday night at John Cain Arena, which he had a straight sets win over Brit Liam Broady.

Kyrgios hyped the crowd at some points throughout his match at Rod Laver, and even teased doing a tweener on serve (like he did at John Cain) early on, but was noticeably a lot more serious this time around.

On Tuesday, Kyrgios described the crowd at John Cain as being like a “zoo”, and in a post-match press conference revealed his decision to hype the crowd was strategic.

Broady described the experience as “absolutely awful” and told reporters he could not repeat some of the sledges from the crowd.

“I’m glad to have got it out the way,” Broady said. “Everyone was telling me, ‘You’ll really enjoy it, it’s going to be amazing,’ but I thought it was absolutely awful.”

Kyrgios was captured stealing a towel from Medvedev in the second set. Picture: Twitter

In typical Kyrgios fashion, the tennis star was not afraid to nick a towel from Medvedev at change of ends early in the second set on Thursday.

Speaking on Channel 9, Aussie wheelchair tennis champion Dylan Alcott explained Kyrgios wanted the white towels because they absorb sweat better.

“As usual, Medvedev couldn’t care less,” Alcott said.

Former Aussie tennis player Todd Woodbridge said he hadn’t seen something like it happen before.

“Imagine if he said, ‘Hey, now, give that back.’ Could have had some biffo,” he said.

Originally published as ‘How is that possible?’: Nick Kyrgios turns on umpire, Aussie fans