Nick Kyrgios accused a ball boy during his most recent match at the 2022 Halle Open for putting him off.
Kyrgios has always been the focal point during tennis matches and has a documented record of clashing with umpires and officials. To some extent, he also argues with some of his opponents.
The Australian was looking to reach the Halle final and was facing his toughest test of the week against Hubert Hurkacz. He had won the first set 6-4, playing lightning-quick tennis on serve.
Kyrgios was trailing 1-2 in the second and was trying to get on level terms on serve. After hitting his first serve into the net, a ball boy rushed to retrieve the first-serve fault but stumbled just as the man from Canberra was aiming for a second serve.
Kyrgios took note of the ball kid's gait and hit a big serve down the T, but he showed his annoyance only after he committed an unforced error.
"You just put me off. Run properly, please."
The incident did not affect the outcome of the match, but Kyrgios lost his composure in the second-set and third-set tie-breaks, losing 4-6, 7-6, 7-6. This ended his bid to win his first career grass-court title for at least a week.
Kyrgios will now head to Spain to play at the Mallorca Championships. It will be his third grass-court tournament this season, having also competed in Stuttgart. He has compiled a 6-2 record on the surface so far and will try to refine his game before Wimbledon.
It remains to be seen whether the 27-year-old's decision to withdraw from the European clay-court swing, including the French Open, will be justified by a strong run at the All England Club.
Kyrgios is a former quarterfinalist at Wimbledon, reaching that stage on his debut in 2014 after beating Rafael Nadal.