Nick Kyrgios Didn’t Want to Play and It Showed in Shocking Rogers Cup Loss to 17-Year-Old

July 26, 2016, 1:40pm

Shortly after winning the boys’ singles championship at this year’s Wimbledon, Canadian tennis prodigy Denis Shapovalov continued his successful summer, defeating No. 19 ranked Nick Kyrgios 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-3 at the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Monday.

With 350 spots separating Shapovalov—a 17-year-old Richmond Hill, Ontario, native—and his opponent Kyrgios in the rankings, this win represents one of the biggest tennis upsets of 2016. Although Shapovalov’s play did impress, where the youngster’s skill set was on full display by hitting 38 winners, it was his opponent’s lack of effort that is harnessing all the attention.

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Kyrgios is facing heavy criticism for what many feel was a severe lack of effort throughout the match. Kyrgios had 18 double faults and 44 unforced errors in the loss, and the Australian reportedly lost his cool and wasn’t taking the game seriously on multiple occasions.

Nick Kyrgios quotes from 1st set: ‘This is a joke.’ ‘I can’t play.’ ‘I don’t want to be here.’ In no particular order.
— Caroline Cameron (@SNCaroline)July 25, 2016

Walked back onto court, Kyrgios makes eye contact with me and says, ‘I just don’t want to be out here anymore. I don’t want to play anymore’
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani)July 25, 2016

Kyrgios takes his seat at the changeover, looks to his box and says: ‘I’m going home. I don’t know about you, but I’m going straight home.’
— Arash Madani (@ArashMadani)July 26, 2016

Unfortunately the narrative surrounding the upset is centered around Kyrgios’s objectionable antics rather than Shapovalov’s impressive play, but the 17-year-old Canadian prodigy will have a chance to prove himself once again when he takes on No. 40 ranked Grigor Dimitrov in the second round action at the Rogers Cup.