Nick Kyrgios dumped out of US Open in typically obscene manner to fellow Australian John Millman

He suffered a point violation for racket abuse 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1

Kyrgios admitted his coach deserved a better player than he is (Getty)

Life is never dull when Nick Kyrgios is around and the 22-year-old Australian was the centre of attention once again here at the US Open. In losing 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 to his fellow countryman, John Millman, Kyrgios suffered a painful shoulder injury, was given code violations for an audible obscenity and racket abuse and had a point deducted.

To cap it all, the world No 17 admitted afterwards that Sebastian Grosjean, who has been helping to coach him this year, deserved to work with a player who was more committed than he was.

“I'm not good enough for him,” Kyrgios said. “He’s very dedicated. He's an unbelievable coach. He probably deserves a player that is probably more dedicated to the game than I am. He deserves a better athlete than me.”

(Getty (Getty)

Kyrgios has been dealing with a succession of fitness issues this summer. He retired during his first-round matches at both Queen’s Club and Wimbledon because of a long-term hip issue and quit during his opening match at Washington just four weeks ago because of a problem with the same shoulder he hurt here.

Nevertheless, Kyrgios had played himself into form in his last tournament before arriving here. He included Rafael Nadal among his victims at Cincinnati as he reached his first Masters Series final before losing to Grigor Dimitrov.

After such a run Kyrgios would have been expected to make easy work of 28-year-old Millman, who had lost in the first round on both of his previous appearances in the main draw here.

Kyrgios, however, had not appeared in the best of moods in the first set, which he lost after dropping serve in the eighth game, though he played some sublime tennis to win the second.

When he was serving at 1-1 in the third set, however, Kyrgios felt a sudden pain in his right shoulder. At the subsequent changeover he took a medical time-out, during which he told the trainer that his shoulder felt “dead and numb” and “incredibly weak all of a sudden”. He added: “On one serve I lost power in my arm.”

He screamed in frustration as he returned to his chair at the next changeover and was given a code violation for an audible obscenity by Carlos Ramos, the umpire. Ramos said that the swearing had been reported to him by a line judge, but Kyrgios denied he had said anything. “That’s ridiculous,” Kyrgios told the umpire. “It’s a joke, man.”

(Getty (Getty)

By the sixth game of the third set Kyrgios was serving at 136mph, but he was now feeling pain in his arm. As he received more treatment in the changeover after the seventh game Kyrgios told the trainer: “I don’t know what to do. I really don’t. I finally had a good week last week, I come to the US Open, I’m playing really well and then I play a tough match against an Aussie and this happens in the middle of the third set. It’s rough.”

At 4-5 Millman broke serve to take the third set. Kyrgios promptly smashed his racket on the court surface with great venom – there did not appear to be anything wrong with his shoulder at that moment – and was given a code violation and deducted a point. The end was swift as Millman, the world No 235, completed his victory in two and a quarter hours, winning the final set in just 28 minutes.

After the match Kyrgios bemoaned his ill luck. “I’ve had a diabolical year at these Slams,” he said. “It doesn’t surprise me. It’s just the story of my career, really. I will have good weeks, I'll have bad weeks. It's just a roller-coaster.”

He added: “The last three months has been a nightmare really. I had such a good Indian Wells, Miami, and in the Davis Cup we had a good win over America. Then things just went downhill from there.”

(Getty (Getty)

Kyrgios said that he kept letting people down and said in particular that Grosjean, a former world No 4, deserved to work with someone who was more dedicated to the sport.

“I'm not dedicated to the game at all,” Kyrgios said. “He’s helped me a lot, especially with the training, in training sessions.”

Asked if he thought he would ever find that dedication, Kyrgios replied: “Probably not.” He added: “There are players out there that are more dedicated, that want to get better, that strive to get better every day, the 100-per-centers. I'm not that guy.”

Kyrgios said, nevertheless, that he had enjoyed success in the past despite his lack of dedication. “In Cincinnati I was not doing anything different,” he said. “I was probably less dedicated than I was this week.

“I was playing basketball every day for two hours. I played an hour of basketball before I played David Ferrer in the semi-final. I was getting ice cream and getting a milk shake every day. I was less dedicated. And this week I was dedicated and my shoulder starts hurting. I don't know.”