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Nick Kyrgios slapped down a reporter asking about an ugly post-match incident that nearly ended with a ballkid being hit by his racquet after the Aussie's frustrating loss to Rafael Nadal on Friday.
The 21-time major winner beat Kyrgios 7-6 5-7 6-4 in a fiery quarter-final clash at Indian Wells that saw the Australian lose his temper at himself, the umpire and the crowd.
Kyrgios even dragged Hollywood star Ben Stiller into things as he demanded a spectator stop telling him how to play tennis.
After Kyrgios shook hands with Nadal and the umpire, he smashed his racquet into the ground and it flew off towards a ballkid standing at the back of the court. Thankfully, the youngster was keeping a close eye on things and took evasive action at the last second as the racquet made a beeline for him.
Tennis writer Christopher Clarey tweeted: "Really disturbing to see Kyrgios smash a racquet in defeat (after the handshake) that rebounds and comes very close to hitting a ballboy. This stuff needs to stop, and he's not alone."
Kyrgios wasn't impressed when asked about the moment in his post-match press conference, as you can see from ths exchange below.
Reporter: "You are obviously an emotional player, but are you aware how close you came to hitting the ballboy with your racquet after the match and ... do you have something to say about it?"
Kyrgios: "What would you like me to say about it? Obviously, was that my intention? No. Because I threw the racquet. Did I throw my racquet anywhere near him originally? It landed a metre from my foot and skidded and nearly hit him. I'm human. Things happens like that. Obviously it was a very misfortunate bounce. I think if I did that a million times over it wouldn't have gone that way.
"And what do you want me to say? It was three metres away from the kid. That's a question you're going to say after a three-hour battle against Nadal? That's what you came here with?"
Reporter: "Well, I saw a kid duck."
Kyrgios: "He ducked. Duck. He ducked. He ducked. He ducked. He ducked. Jesus. All right. Well, if that's what you're going to come in here to come ask me, it didn't hit him. It was an accident. It most definitely wasn't like Zverev. It was a complete accident. I didn't hit him, thankfully. It wasn't my intention. So thankfully the ballkid's OK.
Nick Kyrgios came under scrutiny for a post-match incident with a ballkid but slammed a journalist who dared asked him about it. Photo / AP/Twitter
After the match, Kyrgios took to social media to apologise for nearly hitting the ballkid.
"Hey guys, I just wanna apologise to that ball kid at the end of the match!" he wrote on his Instagram stories.
"It was a complete accident and was frustrated at the end of the match. My racket took a crazy bounce and was never my intention. If anyone knows who that ball kis is, send me a message and I will send a racket to him. I'm glad he's ok!"
He revealed he had managed to track down the ball kid, posting screenshots of a message exchange with the youngster, who said he was "completely fine" and accepted his apology for the incident.
Kyrgios also offered to give the ballkid one of his racquets in an attempt to make amends for his tantrum.
He tweeted: "Made a new friend in the process, accidents happen but we can go out of you way to make things better."
Nadal's win on Friday extended his perfect 2022 start to 19-0. The Spaniard, who won a record-setting 21st Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January, notched his sixth win in nine career meetings with the Aussie, who surrendered the first set on a penalty point when a fan's shout as he prepared to serve provoked an audible profanity from Kyrgios — who had already been warned for racquet abuse.
It was a frustrating end to a first set in which Kyrgios drew first blood, breaking Nadal for a 2-1 lead. Nadal double-faulted on break point as he struggled early to find a good rhythm on his serve against an aggressive, focused Kyrgios.
Kyrgios, playing his first tournament since lifting the Australian Open men's doubles title with compatriot Thanasi Kokkinakis, displayed a devastating forehand along with a couple of crowd-pleasing trick shots — although neither a between-the-legs effort nor a behind-the-back shot yielded a point.
But as he served for the set at 5-4 30-15, Nadal dug in, winning two scintillating rallies to force a break point on which Kyrgios sent a forehand long.
After he fell down 5-6 Kyrgios's frustration boiled over and he drew a warning after slamming his racquet down.
And his choice words for the vocal fan as he prepared to serve with the set on the line in the tiebreaker cost him the crucial point.
Chair umpire Carlos Bernardes was as frustrated as the players by the restless crowd, using his microphone in the second set to take a disruptive spectator to task by noting that among thousands in attendance "you're the only one screaming like crazy".
An agitated Kyrgios was muttering to himself throughout the second set, largely unable to take advantage of Nadal's errors — which eventually included seven double faults in the match.
They proceeded on serve until the 12th game, when Nadal opened another shaky service display with a double fault and found himself facing the first break point of the second set, which Kyrgios converted with a high backhand volley winner.
After holding to open the third set, Kyrgios had Nadal under pressure on his serve, but couldn't convert two break points.
It was Nadal's turn to apply the pressure in the fifth game, but Kyrgios closed it out with three aces in a row to lead 3-2 — not before a testy exchange with a spectator sitting Stiller in the stands.
After Nadal's volley winner gave him break point in the seventh game Kyrgios double faulted on break point, and raged at Bernardes at the changeover that he was not controlling the crowd.
Regardless of what was going on around them, Nadal had the bit in his teeth, holding his next two service games to love and finishing it off with an overhead smash.
