Kyrgios blows his chance with one last strop

THE Nick Kyrgios circus rolled out of Wimbledon with a whimper yesterday but not before one last controversy when the drama king of men’s tennis appeared to stop trying during the second set of his 7-5, 6-1, 6-7, 7-6 fourth-round defeat by Richard Gasquet. The 20-year-old launched a monumental strop after being given a code violation for swearing. That came at a set and a break down and what followed was an extraordinary episode, in which the Australian seemed to throw in the towel. With Gasquet serving at 2-0, 15-0 up in the second, Kyrgios took a feeble swipe at a serve, putting his return gently into the net. He then let a reachable delivery sail straight past him and gave up the game by softly netting his return at 40-0 down. Gasquet stormed the set, before Kyrgios took the third on a tiebreak and held set points in a second tiebreak in the fourth. Kyrgios (right) angrily denied he deliberately gave away the third game of the second set, saying: ‘(It was) just frustration. I’m not perfect out there. I’m going to have ups and downs. I feel like I’ve let people down. It’s tough.’ He could yet face a fine for his antics, which drew boos from the crowd. When asked about Kyrgios’ behaviour, Gasquet, who plays Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals, said: ‘I

think it’s good to have some players like that on the circuit. People say the players are boring. Now we have someone who is doing different things.’ FRENCHMAN Gilles Simon was in no mood to hang around as he stunned sixth seed Tomas Berdych with a brilliant 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 win. The 30-year-old, who had never been past the fourth round, took less than two hours to book his quarter-final spot.