John McEnroe: Nick Kyrgios performance 'a black eye for the sport'

Kyrgios caused controversy in his five set defeat to Andrea Seppi 1-6 -6-7 6-4 6-1 10-8, having been two sets up and on course for victory.

In the third set, Kyrgios appeared to have a running spat with someone in his players' box, and also was docked a penalty point for a second code violation, after he smashed his racquet.

Having lost his first service game of the fourth set, Kyrgious appeared to have no interest in competing with his opponent, recalling previous times in his career when he seemed to be reluctant to put his all into a game.

McEnroe acknowledged that he had his own track record of emotional outbursts, saying:

"I don't mind, obviously if you know my history or career at all, someone who's emotional and goes to far at times and say the wrong things. I don't condone it, but I certainly understand it better than almost anyone who can talk about tennis."

However, he was scathing about what seemed to be a lack of commitment from Kyrgios:

"What I don't understand and don't accept, is when he starts going into the tank and he stops trying and giving 100 percent.

"I would call it overall a damn shame, because I think he's the most talented guy in the world, maybe aged 29 or under. He could be the best player in the world, but mentally he's about 200 in the world."

McEnroe made it clear that it was most damaging for Kyrgios, as well as for the sport generally:

"It's OK to show your emotions and I'd like to see that in a one-on-one game when you're out there by yourself, but when he goes through those periods when he's not competing that it's just a back eye for the sport. And it's a black eye for him."

Kyrgios was fined in October 2016 for failing to try against Mischa Zverev in Shanghai, and appeared to do the same at Wimbledon in 2015.