'I think the way he behaves on court, he has big problems'
'He is young, but that's no excuse'
Australia's Nick Kyrgios courted more controversy with an off-colour remark to his opponent Stanislas Wawrinka during the second round at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Wednesday.
Kyrgios, who is well known for his outbursts off court and profanity on it, made a jibe at Wawrinka during the second set of their match about the Swiss player's apparent girlfriend.
"Kokkinakis banged your girlfriend," Kyrgios was caught saying by television cameras in reference to his Davis Cup team mate Thanasi Kokkinakis. "Sorry to tell you that, mate."
It was unclear whether Wawrinka, who withdrew with a back injury in the third set while trailing 4-0, heard the jibe, though his coach Magnus Norman criticised the Australian on Twitter afterwards.
"That was really really low Nick Kyrgios," Norman wrote. "Hope for u that u have people around that will teach u a thing or 2 about life tonight. Very bad."
Wawrinka fired up in the post-match press conference, saying he "confronted" Kyrgios.
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"He tried to avoid me, but I confronted him", Wawrinka said, adding that the details of the confrontation would stay 'in the locker room'.
"I think the way he behaves on court, he has big problems. I hope that the ATP will take measures against him. He is young, but that's no excuse."
Kyrgios has long said that he would not try to stifle his on-court emotions as he thinks it makes him a better player but admitted the criticism was having an impact.
It is not his first time he is in the limelight.
Kyrgios had accused Olympic great Dawn Fraser of being a ‘blatant racist’ after the former champion swimmer said tennis players should ‘go back to where their parents came from’ if they did not set a better example to Australian youth.
Kyrgios was the subject of a barrage of criticism back home for his on-court antics when he was beaten by Richard Gasquet at Wimbledon last month.
The 20-year-old was accused of giving up, or ‘tanking’, in one game, received a warning for an audible obscenity and conducted a running debate with the umpire throughout the match.
Last year, Kyrgios blamed in jest the slow start to his third-round Wimbledon match against fellow wildcard Jiri Vesily after listening to Drake’s (Canadian rapper) music as he went onto court. "I came out really flat, so hopefully I won’t listen to that again. It was actually Drake. Didn’t do the job for me," Kyrgios quipped.
