Nick Kyrgios Hits Back At Criticism, Sarcastically Telling Aussie Coach To “Ease Up Champ”

Nick Kyrgios, the bad boy of tennis (which is a hilarious thing to be), has fired back at critics following his early exit from the US Open.

Earlier this week, legendary player John McEnroe questioned Kyrgios’ decision to retire with a hip injury in his third round clash with Illya Marchenko, saying, “he’s hurt because he’s not training enough.”

“You don’t want to be a professional tennis player, do something else.”

Aussie Roger Rasheed, a commentator and former coach of Lleyton Hewitt, joined the pile-on by saying Kyrgios could use a full-time mentor (suggesting he should have sat out the doubles tournament).

"This is the difference between having a coach and not having a coach," he told Sky Sports Radio.

"If you were looking after Nick in this situation, you would say: `OK you're playing singles, on the days off there's no doubles'.

"You may not even hit on those days because we're looking after your body so you can play singles and play it effectively."

Kyrgios took to Twitter, his preferred outlet for controversy, to return the serve.

John McEnroe takes a stab, I understand, Roger Rasheed haha maybe not so much. I got to ur career high when I was 18... ease up champ 🤔

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) September 5, 2016

Still, is it possible Kyrgios has indeed learned from the experience?

Photo: Instagram / @k1ngkyrg1os.