Nick Kyrgios hits another career low with defeat to 17-year-old world number 370
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Updated 26/07/2016 at 08:45 GMT
Nick Kyrgios' controversial career has reached a new low after he was ousted from the Rogers Cup by 17-year-old Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who completed a huge 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-3 win.
Nick Kyrgios of Australia sits at the end of the court and waits for the final game in his match against Denis Shapovalov of Canada during Day 1 of the Rogers Cup at the Aviva Centre
Image credit: AFP
The world No 19 - ranked number 11 at the Toronto Masters event - threw in 18 double faults, and 44 unforced errors against a player who recently won the Wimbledon boys title.
At one point during the match in the first round defeat in one hour and 40 minutes, Kyrgios, 21, shouted to his box: "I’m going home."
With his knee strapped up with ice after the match, Kyrgios preferred to praise Shapovalov than focus on his own demise.
"He's coming off of one of the best results of his career. He has a great future,” he said. "I'm really looking forward to seeing how he's going to progress...he's a top player.”
Amid a career blighted by controversial moments and accusations of failing to try, this defeat will not silence the doubters who believe the Australian lacks the focus to challenge for the game's biggest titles.
Neither will his activity on social media before losing to wild card Shapovalov, who recently lost in three sets to world number 100 Russian Lukas Lacko in Washington in only his second ATP event, and is a rookie trying to make his name in the senior game.
Krygios, born in Canberra, had been accused of being more bothered about the popular gaming app, Pokemon GO than his tennis.
Kyrgios said on Twitter: "Eat, sleep, Pokemon Go."
He defended his enjoyment of the game when someone on pointed out to him that Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer weren't thinking about Pokemon in trying to reach the summit of the sport.
“Nick is an incredible tennis player. He's Top 20 in the world. Maybe even future No. 1 in the world,” said Shapovalov when discussing the biggest win of his fledgling career.
"So obviously I didn't expect to win. But like I said before, I'm just going to go fight for every point. That's what I did. The outcome was very good today.”
His reward is a match in the second round with Grigor Dimitrov, another figure struggling to recapture the form of old having slumped to 40th in the world.
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Nick Kyrgios of Australia reacts in his match against Denis Shapovalov of Canada during Day 1 of the Rogers Cup at the Aviva Centre on July 25, 2016.
Image credit: Eurosport
"It's just a matter of refocusing, getting ready for the match. Tournament is not over. I could celebrate my win from Nick after the tournament, but now I'm going to focus for Dimitrov," he said.
“I love playing on a big stage. I love impressing people,” said Shapovalov. “It was very fun for me.
Not so much fun for Kyrgios, who will apparently fly home to Australia to ponder where his career goes after this latest setback.
A career overshadowed by controversy
- Krygious has been accused of lacking effort several times, most notably in his defeat to Richard Gasquet in the fourth round of Wimbledon a year ago. It was a claim which he refuted.
- At the same Rogers Cup event a year ago, he ended up with a 28-day suspended sentence from the sport after a sledging incident involving Stanislas Wawrinka in which he was heard to tell his Swiss opponent that a fellow player was sleeping with Wawrinka's girlfriend.
- He was heavily criticised for his behaviour in losing to Fabio Fognini at the Madrid Open where he received serve on match point holding his racket by its head.
- Kyrgios withdrew from the Olympic Games after a row with the Australian Olympic Committee, who were apparently unhappy with his conduct. "While I have received assurances from Tennis Australia that I will be nominated for the Olympic team, the AOC has chosen to publicly and privately disparage me," he said.
Results from the Toronto Masters Men's Singles Round 1 matches
Sam Querrey (U.S.) beat Frank Dancevic (Canada) 7-6(5) 6-4
Denis Shapovalov (Canada) beat 11-Nick Kyrgios (Australia) 7-6(2) 3-6 6-3
12-Bernard Tomic (Australia) beat Alejandro Gonzalez (Colombia) 6-4 7-6(1)
Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) beat Stephane Robert (France) 6-3 7-6(6)
Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) beat Yuichi Sugita (Japan) 5-7 7-6(5) 6-4
Ryan Harrison (U.S.) beat Andrey Kuznetsov (Russia) 6-3 6-1
Peter Polansky (Canada) beat Tim Smyczek (U.S.) 4-6 6-3 6-0
Gilles Muller (Luxembourg) beat Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 7-6(5) 6-1
Borna Coric (Croatia) beat Ivan Dodig (Croatia) 5-7 6-4 6-2
Steven Diez (Canada) beat Kyle Edmund (Britain) 3-6 6-3 6-2
Kevin Anderson (South Africa) beat Viktor Troicki (Serbia) 7-6(4) 6-3
16-Jack Sock (U.S.) beat Denis Kudla (U.S.) 6-2 6-2
9-John Isner (U.S.) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 4-6 6-3 6-2
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