Nick Kyrgios throws tantrum over wrong coloured towel at Canada Open

Nick Kyrgios, of Australia, finally got his white towel after having a tanty during the Canadian Open.

Come on, admit it. You were tempted to think that Nick Kyrgios had turned the corner.

When the enfant terrible of Australian tennis won the Washington Open last week — and managed to do it without a tantrum or a meltdown — you thought maybe he had woken up to himself.

Maybe one of the most talented players Australia has produced this century was finally going to concentrate on playing tennis and stop being such a ratbag.

And then someone spoiled it all by giving him the wrong coloured towel.

Australia’s most annoying, infuriating athlete was this morning bundled out in the first round of the Canadian Open, mostly because they took too long to give him a white towel.

That’s the thing he puts in his mouth between points. Apparently it absolutely has to be white.

Briton Kyle Edmund outserved Kyrgios and did not face a break point as he closed out a 6-3 6-4 victory in 67 minutes, which was only delayed by a rain interruption late in the second set.

.@NickKyrgios has produced one of his most ridiculous blow-ups yet, “ranting and seething” at the chair umpire over the Canadian Open towels. https://t.co/WctPmMO3HH #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/Ezy0cVnCY5

— 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) August 7, 2019

Kyrgios argued with the chair umpire for most of the first set as he insisted on being provided with a white towel rather than the tournament’s branded variety. He lost his cool after realising he still didn’t have the white towel, despite asking the umpire go and get him one at the start of the match.

“I’m not allowed to leave the chair,” the umpire had to point o

Nick Kyrgios of Australia holds his towel in his mouth.

ut to him — quite reasonably, I would have thought.

“But you have a radio. I asked you at the start of the match,” said petulant Kyrgios. “You’re telling me you can’t radio in for one white towel?”

And then the tantrum really got going. “I’m f…ing frustrated man, a f…ing white towel … I asked him, how hard is it. It’s a white towel, five games for a white towel,” Kyrgios shouted.

He was hit with a code violation for an obscenity before finally getting the towel from a ball boy after 20 minutes of play.

Meanwhile, one of the quiet achievers of men’s tennis, John Millman, managed to get by with a coloured towel and beat Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez 6-7 (7-4) 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 in an enthralling match to become the only Australian to advance to the second round.

I’m not sure how Kyrgios will feel about playing at the US Open, where the players’ towels this year will be blue with a touch of red and green. And when he returns to Australia he’ll have to deal with blue and yellow towels at the Australian Open. Poor lamb, how will he cope?

After his win in Washington, Kyrgios said: “Just looking back at some of the places I’ve been in the last six months, it’s crazy to think how much I’ve turned it around. I’ve just been working really hard on and off the court to try and be better as a person and as a tennis player.’’

Sorry, Nick, it isn’t working.

Nick Kyrgios with his towel in Montreal, Quebec.