John McEnroe says Nick Kyrgios went 'too far' by smashing racquets after US Open defeat

John McEnroe says Nick Kyrgios went “too far” by smashing his racquets on court while Karen Khachanov celebrated his US Open quarter-final win against the Australian. An epic encounter saw the Russian progress to the last-four in five sets at Arthur Ashe Stadium. Ad After shaking hands with the umpire, Kyrgios proceeded to hammer his racquet against the playing surface, before grabbing a spare and destroying that one too.

US OpenUS Open finale: The key storylines to look out for as rising stars eye glory5 HOURS AGO McEnroe was also known for his fiery temperament, and speaking on the Eurosport pre-show ahead of Wednesday’s action, he said, “That was after the match so it was a little unbecoming because — I get he’s frustrated — but this is when [Karen] Khachanov is walking in the centre of the court [saying], ‘Thank you very much the eight people that were on my side’. So that was going too far — I know something about that.” “Nick obviously does that almost every match. We saw the full Nick there.

To me, I’ve always said it’s better to go out and try and fail than to not try at all. So he’s finally gotten there. We need to encourage him to keep going and battling”, he said.

Kyrgios has often been criticised for giving up when the going gets tough in matches, but former world number one Mats Wilander thinks the match with Khachanov showed a new side to him. “He’s got to build up some respect in the locker room for being a competitor, a fighter, and that’s what he did last night. I mean, he fought to the very last point and to show that he’s frustrated — yes, I don’t like when you break the racquets, you know that — but he showed he cares now”, he said.