NEW YORK: A furious Nick Kyrgios has taken aim at the New York crowd at the US Open, bewildered how a large contingency was allowed to proceed courtside in the middle of a game during his first round loss to Andy Murray.
Kyrgios, who also received a code violation for 'audible obscenity' in the fourth set, was up an early break in the first and on serve when a group of fans made their way to their seats.
The match came to a halt for close to a minute in the opening set as the frustrated Australian waited for the fans to get to their seats, eventually surrendering the break and his composure in the 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 defeat.
"Can you tell them to sit down straight away," Kyrgios told the chair umpire.
"What the hell are they doing letting people in the middle of the game. 15-0 and they let 30 people in."
He then muttered to himself "Such bulls**t. Middle of the game. Unreal."
Kyrgios has shown that he has struggled to deal with adversity on the run, capitulating at Wimbledon earlier this year against Richard Gasquet after a perceived lack of support from his team.
He once again struggled to put aside the minor setback in the opening set, failing to hold serve with a tie break beckoning and went on to lose the match.
"Obviously for me it's important when you're playing against him to just concentrate on your side of the court I think," Murray said.
"I mean, you start getting distracted by that, it's easy for you to lose your concentration. But I'd say that's something, the times when I played against him, I've done a pretty good job of just concentrating on my side. But, yeah, almost all the matches that I've played, there have been a couple points where I have laughed on the court or smiled because some of the stuff is funny.
"I mean, when he let go of the racquet today after the forehand, I mean, that only happens to him. Went into the crowd. I mean, yeah, that's funny when you're playing against him. But you need to try to concentrate on your side as much as you can."
Murray went on to win the second set quite comfortably before Kyrgios put up a fight in the third, breaking Murray to love to take the match into a fourth set.
But the fightback and any momentum he gained was shortlived, with Murray storming back in the fourth to close out the match and end Kyrgios' run before it even began.
It's the fourth time, and third time at a grand slam this year, that Kyrgios has lost to the Scot, who could potentially square off with the 20-year-old Australian at the Davis Cup semi final in Scotland on September 18.
Murray has been extremely supportive of Kyrgios throughout his career and was one of the only senior players to voice their support after the "Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend" sledge to Stan Wawrinka.
"I've had a really good relationship with Andy for a long time now," Kyrgios said.
"I've played him a lot. Never beaten him. I got a set off him today. I'm making progress. He's always had nice things to say about me. We've had a lot of conversations on Twitter and stuff. Whenever I've needed something, I've come to him. I've sort of looked at a guy like him that's a really good role model for everyone."
