Frustrated Kyrgios calls loss to Berdych 'heartbreaking'

MELBOURNE—Nick Kyrgios, who lost in the third round to Tomas Berdych at the Australian Open, said that the chair umpire was wrong for not having loud music turned off in Rod Laver Arena towards the end of the second set.

“Am I hearing things?” yelled Kyrgios, who lost 6-3, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. “Mate, it’s a circus.”

Later, the No. 29-ranked Kyrgios said that many people heard the music when the points were being contested.

“I don't know where it came from,” the 20-year-old said. “The ref was telling me he couldn't hear it. I could blatantly hear it. So unless you can start playing tennis when there's music in the background, that's a new rule. They need to add it to the rule book.”

He added that he wasn’t distracted, but it was “just strange.”

“He was telling me he couldn't hear it,” Kyrgios said. “I don't know. I just thought he might have used the microphone to say, ‘Could you quiet it down?’ I've never had it happen to me before.”

The Australian said he felt he let people down by losing. When told by a reporter that everyone loses, Kyrgios said with a smile, “[Novak] Djokovic doesn’t lose.”

“I was expecting a bit more out of myself,” Kyrgios said. “I was expecting another real deep run. I put a lot of work in. It's pretty heartbreaking.”