Nick Kyrgios in new row: not returning shots and serving without effort

Nick Kyrgios risked a fine after he was knocked out of the second round of the Shanghai Masters after apparently serving without any effort. At one point, he approached the umpire Ali Nili and asked: “Can you call time so I can finish this match and go home.”

The Australian tennis player, ranked 14 in the world, on one occasion appeared to walk off the court before his opponent, the world No110 Mischa Zverev, had returned a ball to him and he also seemed to make no attempt to return a Zverev serve. He later said that he “took the easy way out” as he lost the match 6-3, 6-1. Umpire Nili – who also gave Kyrgios a code violation for swearing – told him: “Nick, you can’t play like that. It’s just not professional. This is a professional tournament.”

The Association of Tennis Professionals’ rules state that any player failing to put in ‘best efforts’ in a match can be fined up to $10,000 (£8,000) for each violation.

At one stage a fan called out to Krygios to tell him he should “respect the game” and “respect the people”, causing the tennis player to stop playing and reply: “You wanna come here and play? Sit down and shut up and watch.”

Afterwards, Krygios claimed he was tired. “It was just tough. Obviously I played a lot of matches in a row. Physically tired, mentally tired,” he said. “That’s why I’m trying to work on being able to be consistent every week. Just took the easy way out tonight and obviously didn’t show up at all. I wasn’t so much frustrated. I just tapped out a little bit, I guess.”

Asked about the confrontation with the spectator, Kyrgios said: “I feel like if they knew what they were talking about they’d be on the tennis court and being successful as well. I can’t really understand it at all. They don’t know what I’m going through, so no, I don’t understand it.

“I don’t owe them anything. It’s my choice. If you don’t like it, I didn’t ask you to come watch. Just leave. If you’re so good at giving advice and so good at tennis, why aren’t you as good as me? Why aren’t you on the tour? You want to buy a ticket? Come watch me. You know I’m unpredictable. It’s your choice. I don’t owe you anything. Doesn’t affect how I sleep at night.”

Zverev said: “It was definitely a match that I did not expect was going to go that way. It happened to be a little easier than I expected.”

On Tuesday, Kyrgios claimed to be “bored” as he beat the world No29 Sam Querrey in the first round. Last year, he was fined $1500 for calling the tournament “a circus” and criticising the “fucking surface”. Three days ago, however, he beat David Goffin to win the Japan Open.

Previously, he sparked criticism after apparently refusing to try at Wimbledon in 2015 in protest at receiving a code violation for swearing during his fourth round defeat to Richard Gasquet.