Australia’s Nick Kyrgios forfeited his second-round match at the Italian Open after walking off court against Norway’s Casper Ruud.
The 24-year-old was in the deciding set when he was given a game penalty, reportedly for swearing, to trail 2-1.
He then kicked at a bottle, threw down his racquet, hurled a chair on to the court, picked up his bag and left.
Kyrgios has a history of fines for poor behaviour on court and in March clashed with a fan at the Miami Open.
Earlier this week he served underarm during victory over Daniil Medvedev, while his actions on Thursday came as it emerged he told a podcast interview that he “could not stand” Novak Djokovic – who he described as “cringeworthy” – and called Rafael Nadal “super salty”.
In the 50-minute interview, Kyrgios was asked about his opinion on a number of tennis stars.
After branding Roger Federer the “greatest of all time”, he went in on Nadal, calling the Spaniard his “polar opposite”.
But he had nicer things to say about Britain’s Andy Murray, currently out of the game following hip surgery.
“It sucks not seeing him around here, in the locker room he was the best,” he said.
Kyrgios is not new to controversy as in 2015, having already been fined for an “insulting remark” to opponent Stanislas Wawrinka, Kyrgios was given a suspended 28-day ban and £16,200 fine for making lewd remarks about the Swiss player’s girlfriend.
The following year he was banned for eight tournament weeks and fined £20,560 for his behaviour – including “lack of best efforts” at the Shanghai Masters. During the match in question against Mischa Zverev, Kyrgios also argued with a fan and received a code violation for swearing, after which he was fined for breaching the ATP code of conduct.
In the same tournament the next year, having earlier received a warning for smashing two balls out of court in frustration, he stormed off midway through his first-round match against Steve Johnson. He was later fined for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The Shanghai Masters was again the venue last year when he was involved in a prolonged argument with French umpire Damien Dumusois during his first-round exit.
