Nick Kyrgios fell short in his battle against Rafael Nadal in their Indian Wells quarterfinals, with the scoreline 7-6 (6-0), 5-7, 6-4.
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Kyrgios had shot to end Nadal’s incredible 18-0 start to the tennis season, but lost at some point in the match, swearing in the chair referee and getting involved in a verbal altercation with a man who was next to Hollywood star Ben Stiller souz.
“Why are you talking?” he said to the man sitting three of stills before pointing to the comedian.
“Am I telling him how to act? No.”
After breaking in the third sentence, Kyrgios beat the chair guard Carlos Bernardes for not managing the audience.
“How long do you let that S ** t go on? How long? How long? How long, brother? How long?” Kyrgios called.
“If you did anything about it, it might not have happened.
“It happens over and over again – and look at the f *** ing score! Look at the score!
“It’s your job to control that, no one else.”
Kyrgios was then charged by the court after the Australian destroyed his racket immediately after his handshake after the match with Nadal, with the piece of equipment hitting almost a ball child.
“Nadal wins, Kyrgios spikes racket that flies and almost shoots a ball. Crowd gets angry as he goes out,” tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg tweeted.
“Difficult end to a great match.”
The tense exchange of the third set with the audience came before Kyrgios dropped out of his service in the seventh game, allowing Nadal to stream to victory, and ending a powerful battle.
Kyrgios – world number 132 and in need of a wildcard to enter the tournament – made a mockery of his low ranking early on, breaking Nadal first and extending his run to 30 straight service.
The 26-year-old smoked as he missed his chance to serve the first set, breaking two rackets before handing the second to a child and the crowd.
Kyrgios pulled back on an offended crowd member as he waited quietly on his serve, scoring a penalty.
“If you do, I have to punish you because it’s too harsh,” referee Bernardes told Kyrgios, who shook his head as he responded “unbelievably.”
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The circus atmosphere still required an intervention from Bernardes, who got out of his chair to approach a man, saying, “There are 10,000 people who want to watch tennis here and you are the only one who wants to cry like crazy. Please. “
In court, Kyrgios gathered his composure, shut down service players and concealed dropshots as he led 6-5.
He also leveled the match with another piece of magic, slipping on his way to reach a dropshot before hitting an overhead to win the second set.
The dynamic was Kyrgios in the third, with Nadal holding the serve with uncharacteristic sluggishness in the opening game.
That all changed when the Australian turned his head in the last matches of the crowd.
Nadal’s victory was his 19th successor this year, a run that brought ATP titles to Melbourne and Acapulco and a record-breaking 21st slam at the Australian Open.
He continues to march to Indian Wells, where he can improve on a world number 3 title, playing either Carlos Alcaraz or reigning champion Cameron Norrie in the semifinals.
While Kyrgios has fallen against Nadal, he will jump into the rankings after a productive tournament, predicted to be world No. 101 at the end of the week.
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