Nick Kyrgios was embroiled in yet more controversy during his eventful clash with Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells.
The Australian suffered a 7-6 (7-0) 5-7 6-4 defeat in an entertaining quarter-final against Nadal, who now extends his winning streak in 2022 to 19, but not before bringing the crowd to laughter during an exchange with a fan who was sitting closely to comedian Ben Stiller.
Clearly irritated by the shouts coming from the fan in the stands behind him when about to serve, Kyrgios asked him if he was any good at tennis before pointing to Stiller and adding: "Do I tell him how to act?"
More controversy was to come when the hot-headed 26-year-old when he hurled his racquet into the ground after shaking hands with Nadal only to see it bounce up into the air and narrowly miss a ball boy.
When press on the incident by a member of the press following his defeat, Kyrgios ridiculed the journalist and firmly stated that it was obviously an accident.
He said: "What do you want me to say about it. Obviously, was that my intention? No. Because I threw the racquet. Did I throw it anywhere near him originally? It landed a meter from my foot and skidded and nearly hit him.
"I'm human. Things happen like that. Obviously it was very misfortunate bounce. I think if I did that a million times over it wouldn't have gone that way. And what do you want me to say? That's a question you're going to say after a three-hour battle against Nadal? That's what you've come here with?"
However, he did later shared his apology to the ball boy on Instagram and also added: "I just want to apologise to that ball kid at the end of the match. It was a complete accident and was frustrated at the end of the match.
"My racket took a crazy bounce and was never my intention. If anyone knows who that ball kid is, send me a message and I will send a racket to him. I'm glad he's OK!"
Kyrgios was then able to track the ball boy down to apologise to him, and was pleased to read that he was "completely fine".