Kyrgios in X-rated clash with umpire Veljovic as Aussie hothead wins five-set thriller in Melbourne

Nick Kyrgios edged a late-night nail-biter in Melbourne to progress to the third round of the Australian Open, but as is almost inevitably the case with the Aussie firebrand his clash with Ugo Humbert was not without incident.

Kyrgios saved two match points on the way to a five-set win, edging out French 29th seed Humbert 5-7, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 in a crowd-pleasing epic on John Cain Arena.

The Australian world number 47 played some spellbinding tennis, especially in an inspired final set, but his combustible temper again flared throughout the match.

After losing the first set Kyrgios smashed his racket in disgust, earning a code violation, and was handed a further infraction late in the third set – being docked a penalty point for firing a ball low toward the chair of umpire Marijana Veljovic after his serve had been broken.

There were also ongoing exchanges between the pair over a malfunctioning net sensor, which a furious Kyrgios said was disrupting the match.

Kyrgios remonstrated with Veljovic on numerous occasions about the net sensor. © Reuters

During the decisive fifth set, Kyrgios walked up to the net and slammed his racket down on top of it.

"It’s bullsh*t, look at the score, man," he was reported as saying to Veljovic.

"It’s ruining the game. It’s ruining the game. You don’t understand it’s f*cking one-all in the fifth set."

The Aussie was also heard referring to Veljovic as “bro” and “dude”.

Similar scenes had played out in the second set, when Kyrgios demanded that the machine be turned off because it was signaling a let when the Aussie claimed his serves had been good.

"Turn the machine off, it’s ruining the game, you’ve got to understand me," Kyrgios said.

"It's missing the net by that much. How do you not understand that? Did you turn it off?

"Turn it off. I’m not playing until you turn it off. It’s this far off the net."

Perhaps ironically considering his net woes, Kyrgios sealed the win with a rocket of a serve, forcing Humbert to send his return into the stands and prompting an emotional Kyrgios to fall to his knees.

“Honestly, if you were in my head, I actually was just thinking about all the sh*t I was going to cop if I lost that match," Kyrgios said afterwards.

The incident-packed clash was characteristic of Kyrgios’ time in Melbourne thus far. During his round one win against Portuguese qualifier Frederico Ferreira Silva, he appeared to fire barbs at his own box as they watched on.  

Off the court, Kyrgios has been engaged in a running battle with world number one Novak Djokovic, whom the Aussie branded a “tool” and has criticized for his behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic.

After Djokovic said he did not respect the 25-year-old outside of the tennis court, Kyrgios fired back by saying the Serb was “a strange cat.”

"Heck of a tennis player, but unfortunately someone that’s partying with his shirt off during a global pandemic," added Kyrgios.

"I don’t know if I can take any slack from that man. That’s as bad as it gets, for me."

Intriguingly, the pair could meet at the semi-final stage – although for that to happen, Kyrgios would need to beat his previous best run in Melbourne, having reached the quarterfinal stage back in 2015.  

After his win against Humbert, however, fans were still left salivating at the prospect.

Next up for Kyrgios is a daunting third-round match-up with Austrian number three seed Dominic Thiem on Friday.

Thiem lost the final to Djokovic last year, but will be strongly fancied to overcome Kyrgios – although the later will be able to call on strong home support.   

The Austrian breezed past Germany's Dominik Koepfer in his second-round game on Wednesday.