Crowd racial slurs drove Kyrgios over the edge

Nick Kyrgios let loose on Instagram Saturday, blaming racial slurs from a corner of the Stuttgart crowd for sparking his meltdown during a 7-6(5), 6-2 loss to Andy Murray.

The semi-final victory put the Scot into his 70th career final where he will take on Wimbledon finalist and reigning Queen’s Club champion Matteo Berrettini.

Kyrgios was hit by a point and then a game penalty as his distractions came to the fore near the end of the first-set tiebreaker which Murray won.

The three-time Grand Slam champion Scot was then awarded the first game of the second set through a game penalty to Kyrgios, who later explained his meltdown on social media.

“When is this going to stop? Dealing with racial slurs from the crowd?” The Australian posted.

“I understand that my behaviour isn’t the best all the time – but ‘you little black sheep’, ‘shut up and play’ – little comments like this are not acceptable.

“When I retaliate to the crowd, I get penalised. This is messed up.”

Murray tended to agree: “You’re always kind of battling yourself as well as the opponent, it’s one of the difficult things about individual sports.

“Nick has the potential to be one of the best players in the world, there’s absolutely no question about that. 

“He obviously got very frustrated in the second set and made it a lot easier for me.

“I’m happy to be in the final. I’ve played well this week and I’ve got a great opportunity against Matteo tomorrow.”