Wimbledon 2015: Nick Kyrgios eases past Diego Schwartzman

Nick Kyrgios has made a blazing start to his Wimbledon campaign — but only after a mid-match spat.

Nick Kyrgios of Australia plays a backhand during his win against Diego Schwartzman.

The double bowl of Special K has just got a little soggy. Nick Kyrgios has become a defiant and reluctant tennis player, albeit a winner in the first round of Wimbledon embroiled in controversy about his call of “dirty scum”.

Thanasi Kokkinakis, in contrast, lost his tight fought match and was bundled out of The Championships, his frustration evident as he threw his racquet to the ground.

Kokkinakis’ irritation was understandable as he scrambled hard throughout the near three-hour match, losing to Leonardo Mayer 7-6,7-6, 6-4 after he had battled a stomach illness all week.

Without affectation he described how he nearly threw up on court a couple of times.

But in contrast to Kokkinakis’ charm, Kyrgios has adopted a surly manner, both on and off-court — even after being primed that he was about to face a barrage of questions about his comment ‘dirty scum’ in his first round match against another Argentinian, Diego Schwarztman.

In what has been a bizarre month Kyrgios has claimed he is sick of tennis, much prefers basketball and was forced into playing the game because of pushy parents. He sacked his coach Todd Larkham and while he appeared in control early in yesterday’s opening game, blitzing to a 6-0, 6-2 lead, he struggled with the smallest hint of adversity as Schwartzman briefly took the lead in the third set.

Kyrgios was sullen and defiant as Wimbledon officials prepared to investigate his language to determine if he faces a misconduct fine.

Kyrgios was unrepetentant about any consequences: “It wouldn’t bother me one bit’”, and he insisted he was directing the comment to himself.

This was the exchange in the press conference about it.

Question: Why did you refer to yourself as dirty scum?

Kyrgios: Why are you so caught up about the question?

Question: It was an interesting thing to call yourself.

Kyrgios: ‘Cause I can.

Kyrgios was furious that Schwartzman was given the point as he believed he had made a winning shot before the wrong decision was called. He wanted the match referee to come to the court.

But courtside officials believe Kyrgios then referred to someone — it is unclear if it was the umpire — as dirty scum.

Kyrgios agreed he had uttered the words but said it was nothing to do with the match officials. “I wasn’t referring to the ref at all there. Yeah, I mean, it was towards myself. But, yeah, I mean, obviously I knew you guys were going to ask me about that.”

Kyrgios then shook his head when asked about his deteroriating reputation and the fear he could become known as the bad boy of Australian tennis.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“I play the sport the way I play it. I’m not going to change, you know.” But he believes that he brings a style that is appealing to young fans.

“I think the sport needs characters. I feel like, you know, it’s good when you see someone that’s raw and just plays the game the way they play it, doesn’t really worry about other stuff when they’re out there.”