'Getting ridiculous': Tennis world condemns fresh Nick Kyrgios 'disgrace'

Calls are once again growing for Nick Kyrgios to be slapped with an ATP suspension after the Aussie bowed out of a third successive US tournament in ugly meltdown mode.

The Aussie firebrand got fined a total of $US60,000 ($A80,000) after losing in Indian Wells and Miami recently and could face even more penalties after blowing a gasket in the semi-finals of the US men's clay court championships.

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Kyrgios' surprise run on his least favourite surface came to an explosive end after a 6-3 7-5 loss to giant American Reilly Opelka.

The 26-year-old ended up losing his cool in a big way and got docked a point for a second audible obscenity which cost him a crucial game near the end of a tight second set.

Kyrgios may have had some justification for his rants after the umpire Joshua Brace admitted he'd made a mistake with a call at 5-5 in the second set of the match.

But after the key point, which left the score at 30-30, Kyrgios completely lost the plot, losing the next point with a distracted error and, after earning his second warning for more on-court swearing, getting docked the point which cost him the game at break point down.

He was lucky not to earn another, potentially game and match-losing penalty as he continued to scream out loud obscenities as he walked back to his seat for the changeover.

There, he continued to harangue the official, muttering: "F***! How are you not calling it? It's an absolute joke."

During the exchange, the clearly flustered Brace admitted: "I believe it now, I made a mistake."

It wasn't the first debate the pair had had over the incident, which happened when Opelka's return at 30-15 had appeared to go over the baseline but wasn't called out as Kyrgios went on to lose the point.

"If it is out, then I did miss it," said the umpire, leaving Kyrgios to tell him sarcastically: "Well, congratulations..."

Tennis fans slam Nick Kyrgios after fresh meltdown

While many tennis fans conceded that Kyrgios may have had some bad calls go against him, the consensus is that his manner in dealing with such adversity is simply not acceptable.

Following the latest meltdown in Houston, many fans once again challenged the governing body of men's tennis - the ATP - to crack down on the serial offender.

Warning: The video below contains profanity

The sadness once again was that Kyrgios, who's otherwise had a fine US swing beyond these racquet-chucking and umpire-berating sideshows, had been battling superbly on his least favourite clay surface to get back into the match against the huge-serving, 211cm-tall Opelka.

Kyrgios, trying to reach his first ATP final since Washington in 2019, had earlier appeared quite out of sorts, muttering loudly to himself at one changeover: "F***** energy is useless this morning! Useless!"

Opelka had dropped only four points behind his massive serve in the opening set and when Kyrgios got broken again midway through the second, there seemed no way back.

Typically, though, the Australian maverick found some of his best form to break back and he looked to have go the upper hand until the meltdown.

Opelka, remaining perfectly calm amid all the nonsense, stepped up at 6-5, served three aces and sealed the win in 69 minutes, earning a place in the final against either fellow US giant John Isner or Chile's Cristian Garin.

When it was all over, Kyrgios still couldn't let it go. "Do you feel bad?" he asked Brace. "I don't think you feel bad."

with AAP

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