Nick Kyrgios under fire over 'embarrassing' act in Wimbledon final

Nick Kyrgios has been called out by Aussie tennis great Rennae Stubbs over his treatment of his entourage during the Wimbledon final.

The Aussie star went down to Novak Djokovic in four pulsating sets on Sunday, narrowly missing out on a monumental upset over the 21-time grand slam champ.

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In a match featuring just three breaks of serve, Djokovic won 4-6 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-3) to clinch his seventh Wimbledon crown and 21st major overall.

Kyrgios had been on his best behaviour early on in front of a royal box featuring the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Australian greats Rod Laver and John Newcombe, and a raft of other royals and luminaries.

But after dropping serve for the first time in his career against Djokovic to fall behind 3-1 in the second set, he grew increasingly frustrated.

Kyrgios threatened to unravel after being hit with a code violation for swearing in the fifth game of the pivotal third set after claiming to have been distracted while serving by a mouthy spectator in the crowd.

He then let rip at his box after being broken at 4-4 from 40-0 up to gift Djokovic the opportunity to serve out the third set.

“Say something!” he yelled at one point. “It’s 0-40. God damn! It’s 0-40!”

“Why do you stop? 40-0, 40-15 and you just relax! Why?”

Kyrgios' girlfriend Costeen Hatzi, as well as his father and sister, have been supporting him from court-side all throughout his two-week Wimbledon campaign.

Stubbs was among a host of tennis fans and pundits to condemn Kyrgios over his actions towards his box.

“Honestly, this behaviour of yelling at your box because they aren’t doing what u want, is actually beyond ridiculous,” she wrote on Twitter.

“THEY CAN’T READ YOUR MIND! Yes this is his way of dealing with pressure, I get it but this is straight up constant abuse to people that love you, it’s embarrassing.”

Piers Morgan wrote: "Kyrgios is such a monumental a**hole. Imagine hurling constant foul-mouthed abuse in a Wimbledon final at your own support team/family for YOUR bad shots?"

Nick Kyrgios feels he belongs despite loss to Djokovic

Kyrgios was left gutted and heartened in equal parts following the loss to Djokovic in a high-quality Wimbledon title match.

The Australian underdog defied his unseeded status to have Djokovic only a few points away from staring down a two-set deficit on a centre court where the now 21-time grand slam champion has been undefeated in almost a decade.

"It's taken me 10 years, almost 10 years in my career to finally get to the point of playing for a grand slam and coming up short, but my level is right there," Kyrgios said.

"You look at what Novak has done to some other opponents, and it's not a good feeling. But I'm right there. I'm not behind the eight ball at all.

"I played a slam final against one of the greatest of all time, and I was right there.

"I came out in the first set and I looked like I was the one who had played in a lot of finals. I thought I dealt with the pressure pretty well."

In his victory speech, Djokovic said he was convinced Kyrgios would continue challenging for grand slam glory now that he's finally broken through to a final.

Kyrgios credits his new-found contentment off the court for his improved fortunes on it.

"My fire's been lit this whole year," he said.

"I've obviously met a lot of amazing people this year who have just given me extra motivation.

"To find people that finally have my back, that I just love being around, and they just want to push me to be a better person and to be a better tennis player, they realise that I'm immensely talented and I have a lot of, I feel like, a lot more to do in this sport."

with AAP

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