Disgruntled Nick Kyrgios was hit with a penalty point and said he got “destroyed” as world No 1 Rafael Nadal cruised to his sixth title of another remarkable year.
Kyrgios, whose talent has often been overshadowed by his on-court conduct, saw his challenge disintegrate in acrimony in a 6-2, 6-1 rout to the Spaniard in the China Open final.
The world-ranked 19 Kyrgios displayed his best side in forcing Nadal to 2-2 in the first set, but his other side soon emerged.
Kyrgios, who was going after a fourth career title, was already on a warning from umpire Mohamed Lahyani for something he said in disputing a call in the first game of the match.
And when he went down 30-0 on Nadal’s serve at 2-2, the Australian began the first in a series of lengthy discussions with the umpire – frequently spreading his arms in despair, shaking his head and swearing at least once.
“It’s not fair dude,” Kyrgios complained at one point. The 22-year-old then collected a penalty point and he continued to rant as he trudged back to his chair, initially to whistles from the crowd and then cheers to encourage him.
“I don’t know, I just got super frustrated,” he said afterwards. “I mean, I obviously didn’t react professionally. Obviously that’s why I got a warning.”
He added, “But I mean, that didn’t really matter today. He played well, I played terrible. He’s in great form, he just destroyed me today.”
Nadal, a 16-time Grand Slam winner, came to the Chinese capital on the back of winning his third US Open. He saved two match points in his nervy opener against Frenchman Lucas Pouille.
But after that Nadal sliced through the opposition to win the China Open for the first time since making his debut in Beijing in 2005.
Since then Nadal has gone on to become one of the greatest players of all time and he underlined his brilliance in swatting aside the agitated Kyrgios.
Asked how his latest indiscretions might be viewed, Kyrgios replied with disdain: “I don’t really care. Like, I mean, I lost a tennis match, man. Who cares? Why are we focusing on that?
He added, “Look at what happened in Vegas a couple days ago. Really, we’re going to talk about it?”