Kyrgios defiant after tumultuous Indian Wells loss to Nadal

Nick Kyrgios lashed out when questioned about a frustration-fuelled fling of his racquet that sent a ballboy ducking for cover on Thursday after the Australian's crushing loss to Rafael Nadal at the Indian Wells WTA and ATP Masters.

Kyrgios insisted the ugly incident was barely worthy of comment, and not on the scale, for example, of ATP colleague Alexander Zverev's meltdown in Mexico, that saw the German fined $40,000 for bashing an umpire's chair with his racquet.

"Did I throw my racquet anywhere near him (the ballboy) originally," Kyrgios said. "It landed a meter from my foot and skidded and nearly hit him.

"I'm human. Things happen like that. It was an accident. It most definitely wasn't like Zverev. It was a complete accident. I didn't hit him, thankfully. It wasn't my intention.

"So, thankfully, he's OK."

Nadal and Kyrgios had already shaken hands, and the Spaniard didn't see him throw the racquet after the match.

"I think Nick had a great attitude during the whole match in terms of fighting spirit, and of course he has his personality, his character," Nadal said. "Sometimes he does things that I don't like, but I respect [him] because of different character, different kind of points of view, and different kind of education."

Kyrgios would have preferred to focus on the sometimes outstanding play that had 21-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal in trouble several times in the 7-6 (7/0), 5-7, 6-4 defeat.

He was two points away from pocketing the first set, and he had two chances for an early break in the third set before succumbing in a match that saw Kyrgios take out his frustrations on himself, the chair umpire and even actor Ben Stiller who was sitting courtside.

"This one hurts, because I know that no matches that I