'Play f***ing tennis': Opponent's explosive mid-match swipe at Nick Kyrgios

Steve Johnson has launched a foul-mouthed swipe at Nick Kyrgios after the Aussie produced his usual antics during their US Open clash.

Kyrgios was at his volatile best during the opening round clash in New York on Tuesday.

Despite holding a one-set lead, Kyrgios became incensed with the chair umpire late in the second.

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Kyrgios was unhappy with the level of crowd noise in Louis Armstrong Stadium, and even less happy that the umpire wasn’t controlling it.

The young Aussie dropped an F-bomb and was hit with a code violation for audible obscenity.

He then continued his argument at the change of ends.

“Why are you looking at me while I’m serving?” he asked. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Johnson then walked past Kyrgios and offered him a piece of his mind.

“This is a f***ing sh*t show,” Johnson spat at Kyrgios.

“Do you want to play f***ing tennis or host a sh*t show?”

Kyrgios didn’t seem to hear the comment, but the Twittersphere certainly did.

Draw completely opens up for Kyrgios

Kyrgios managed to maintain his composure, seeing off Johnson 6-3, 7-6 (1), 6-4to advance to the second round.

Kyrgios crunched 24 aces and 20 clean winners in setting up a meeting on Thursday with French wildcard Antoine Hoang, the world No.104.

Earlier, Kyrgios’ quarter of the draw completely opened up after four top-10 players all crashed out.

Austria's Dominic Thiem, Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, Russian Karen Khachanov and Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut were all sent packing before Rafael Nadal restored some semblance of order at Flushing Meadows.

"That's tennis," Nadal, who used a clinical display to beat John Millman in his New York opener, told reporters when asked about the slew of upsets.

Spanish 10th seed Bautista Agut, who reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon last month, was the first major casualty as he lost 3-6 6-1 6-4 3-6 6-3 to Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin.

Eighth-seeded Tsitsipas, who reached this year's Australian Open semi-final, was the next out the door as he fell 6-4 6-7(5) 7-6(7) 7-5 to Russian Andrey Rublev during a match in which the Greek lashed out at the umpire saying: "You're French probably. ... You're all weirdos."

Austrian fourth seed Thiem, who was projected to meet Nadal in the semi-finals, then followed his peers to the exits as he suffered a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-2 loss to unseeded Italian Thomas Fabbiano, making him the highest-seeded casualty.

"I mean, congratulations to him and I'm happy for him. But it was not the real me there on the court," said Thiem, who prior to the tournament downplayed his chances because of a virus he picked up in the build-up to the last major of 2019.

Russian ninth seed Khachanov, who could have faced Nadal in the quarter-finals, was the final victim, falling 4-6 7-5 7-5 4-6 6-3 to Canada's Vasek Pospisil, who recorded his first win this year after missing several months after surgery.

"If you play bad, you can lose," Nadal said. "Tsitsipas had a very tough first round.

"Of course, Karen is a surprise. I think Thiem has been very sick for the last 10 days. I feel very sorry for him.

"Roberto was a surprise. Honestly, I'm very sad for him."

with AAP