Nick Kyrgios Melts Down, Gets Pep Talk From Chair Umpire

Nick Kyrgios doesn't seem to like tennis. At least that's what his body language is shouting nearly every time he's on the court. You would think that someone with his God-given talent would be delighted to get to be a professional athlete. The luxury items, the fresh air, the fame, fortune, etc. But Kyrgios apparently doesn't give a shit about all that.

At the U.S. Open today, Kyrgios is squaring off against Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and is really putting on some apathy pageantry. The man reached the point where he wasn't even trying to return serves, he just watched them go by.

Mind you, this is coming from the man that beat Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic in his first meeting against each. Someone that talented. What the fuck is his glitch? In any event, the crowd decided to get in on it:

Seems like the only thing Kyrgios is serving up is some existential teen angst. At one point during the match, Kyrgios called over a trainer just to make it seem like there might be something physically wrong with him. But the man was just messing around:

Ultimately, Kyrgios's Richie Tenenbaum-like meltdown was too much for even the umpire to bear. To the point that something completely unprecedented went down. The ump, Mohamed Lahyani, decided to hop down from his tall chair to give Kyrgios a pep talk. Like a camp counselor or something:

So now Kyrgios's temper tantrum has ensnared the the chair umpire who, sure, probably should not be giving pep talks to players he is officiating, but I mean, come on! This is an affront to the sport he's dedicated his professional career to overseeing and he wants to continue the match in front of an increasingly agitated paying crowd.

In any event, something seems to have worked because as of the time writing this, Kyrgios is now up two sets to one against Herbert, up 4-0 in the fourth, and appears to be cruising to a most unusual win. Was this a tactic the whole time? Likely not. More likely that we're just witnessing a spectacularly moody dude.