'Horrendous': Truth missed in 'pissed off' Nick Kyrgios' wild spray for leading umpire

A "pissed off" Nick Kyrgios was 100 per cent "right" in his criticism of a controversial umpire call but his former Davis Cup teammate John Millman has explained why it made no sense to tee off at leading chair umpire Marijana Veljovic in the way that he did.

Kyrgios went berserk on Thursday night after an incorrect let call at crunch time during the Special Ks opening round loss to fellow Aussies Jason Kubler and Marc Polmans.

In the opening point of the third set tie-breaker, a let was called on a Thanasi Kokkinakis serve that replays showed cleared the net comfortably.

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Kyrgios protested, but let calls cannot be challenged. The 'Special Ks' won the point anyway on Kokkinakis' second serve, but it didn't stop Kyrgios from venting to media post-match on Thursday night.

"How can you review a ball that's been hit over the net, but you can't review a serve over the net? Doesn't make any f---ing sense," he said.

"That's why I'm pissed off - we're playing for millions of dollars. We've been both injured, both trying to get to this stage. Some of these rules are just so, so, so dumb. They don't make sense.

"How can you not review a let? How can you not review that? How can you not just watch a ball just go over the net? How dumb does that sound? Next question."

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It didn't end there. The pair were later asked for their thoughts on the Australian Open crowd and how it had evolved over their careers.

He said the home fans were the "best in the world" at creating an atmosphere, and then added the support was part of the reason he was so angry at the call.

"It sucks. For me personally, I put in a lot of work. I'm probably in some of the best shape I've been in for a while. It just pisses me off that we go out there and compete, and some of these rules are just so grey area'd," Kyrgios said.

"In my opinion, (Kokkinakis) is trying to serve, what he's got left (physically), he hits a great serve to start the tiebreak. It's a horrendous call by the referee, horrendous. No let, all that.

"We do so much hard work to get out there, to then feel like you're hard done by. I'm not saying that's the reason we lost - obviously Kubes and Polmans, they're great players.

"Just pisses me off because now we both have to go back to the drawing board. Physically we're hobbling. It's just annoying."

Millman, speaking on Stan Sport's Grand Slam Daily, agreed Veljovic had clearly got the let call wrong.

"So Nick was right there," Millman said.

"He probably got lost in the heat of the battle though, because upon reflection, you look back and you go, what would the outcome have been? Because even if the umpire said, 'OK, I made a mistake, it was a let,' it was still going to be another first serve, play two, so there wasn't going to be any difference."

Kubler and Polmans won 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(10-4).

Kyrgios and Kokkinakis won the AO title in 2022 but have now been knocked out in the first round in consecutive years.

But there was plenty of entertainment, with racquet smashes, injury troubles, crowd clashes and umpire disputes.

Kyrgios decided to go for an underarm serve in the first set. It backfired. Kubler and Polmans rallied to break serve before more frustration followed.

With the Special Ks up 30-15 on Kubler's serve, Kokkinakis hit a shot wide and long before throwing his racquet. Kubler then held serve to win the set.

That wasn't the only racquet throw. Down 2-1 in the second set, Kyrgios returned a serve long and launched his racquet. He was given a warning by Veljovic but avoided a point penalty.

Earlier, Kyrgios had clashed with a fan, telling them "you f---ing paid to watch me, bro."

On Nine, Millman speculated there might be more to the outburst.

"You almost feel he's doing this to spark a reaction to try and change the momentum of this match," he said.

That it did. Kyrgios and Kokkinakis went on to win the set to send it to a decider.

"It's going to be a late night at Kia Arena and no one is going anywhere," Brenton Speed said in commentary.

The Special Ks looked like they'd go on to finish the job at 4-1 up before Kokkinakis needed treatment on his troublesome shoulder.

That sparked their downfall as Kubler and Polmans won three games in a row. Eventually Kyrgios and Kokkinakis won a game to make it 5-4 with more medical treatment coming for the latter.

A tiebreaker eventually came as Kyrgios hobbled around the court with heavy strapping around his left knee.

More controversy came when Kubler protested that Kokkinakis' racquet made contact with the ball before it went over the net.

Kubler was right and it became 3-1.

The Special Ks didn't really look in the fight from there and Polmans' serve was too strong for Kokkinakis to return on match point.

- with Lachlan Harper