Nick Kyrgios showed flashes of his old self as he clashed with the chair umpire before he was eliminated by Japanese qualifier Sho Shimabukuro in the Wimbledon warm-up event in Stuttgart.
Coming off a victory in the opening round over world No.36 Corentin Moutet on Tuesday, the Aussie, who returned after a wrist reconstruction and four knee surgeries, had no such luck in the next round.
Nick Kyrgios loses to Sho Shimabukuro in Germany. Getty
Kyrgios went down 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 but still displayed the type of flair that entertained the crowd, taking the first set with an underarm serve that led to an unforced error.
However, the Australian’s error count mounted from that point as Shimabukuro hit back to win the second set in a tiebreak.
That’s when frustration bubbled for Kyrgios, who is unranked after playing just seven singles matches since 2022.
In the third game of the third set, the annoyed 2022 Wimbledon finalist had words with the umpire, claiming he should have been told it was the last game before new balls.
“I don’t know if you’re new or anything, but (for) as long as I’ve been on tour, the game before, it’s been like ‘new balls next game’,” he said on court.
“Because that’s courtesy. You know how you hold us accountable, I think we should hold you accountable too, yeah?”
A bothered Kyrgios hit just 11 winners, along with 10 unforced errors, in the third frame handing victory to the Japan player in an hour and 52 minutes.
Other Australians in Germany also went down with Rinky Hijikata, James Duckworth and James McCabe all falling.
Rain intervened in Ajla Tomljanovic’s match against Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska.
Tomljanovic hit back to take the match into a third set with the scores standing at 4-6, 6-4, 0-1.