NEW YORK—Nick Kyrgios was upset at the US Open today.

Very upset.

So upset that he managed to earn two code violations on changeovers—one for an audible obscenity, one for racket abuse, the second earning him a point penalty.

So upset that he moped and shrugged around the court and squandered the better part of two sets alternating between go-for-broke forehands and far-too-casual drop shots, many of them off half-volleys, that quickly reminded the dwindling crowd on a temporary iteration of Louis Armstrong Stadium that such shots only charm when they work (at least most of the time); otherwise, and with quickly escalating intensity, they simply seem impetuous, disdainful of a paying crowd.

Before spending any more time on Kyrgios, all due respect to his conqueror, John Millman, a 28-year-old fellow Aussie, who emerged the victor today, 6-3, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1. Millman, in the main draw here on the strength of a protected ranking, having missed the first four-plus months of the year with a tendon injury in his groin that required surgery, is six years older than Kyrgios, but has already been eclipsed by his junior countryman, seeded 14th here. The elder Aussie just reached the third round of a major for the first time at the Australian Open last year, while Kyrgios has made multiple trips to the second round of Slams, and made his first Masters final at Cincinnati just two weeks ago.

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Two distinct narratives played out through this match: The first over the first two sets and the second over the final two. Both evoked Kyrgios’ own searingly accurate self-evaluation after he beat Rafael Nadal in Cincinnati this summer:

“Obviously it’s easier to say that for me, because you see me tank ridiculous amounts of matches against, like, on back courts and stuff, and you never see me doing anything silly in a match like this,” he said when asked about his see-saw results—able to beat all-time greats, but faltering against seemingly easier opposition. “It’s easy to get up for these matches … the problem for me is trying to bring it on an everyday basis, say, center court of Lyon with 15 people against Nicolas Kicker earlier this year, I lost. Tonight I’m playing Rafa and I won. These matches aren’t the problem. It’s those matches for me.”

That quote seemed to hang over Armstrong Stadium during the first set of today’s match as Kyrgios appeared almost bored in the first set. He looked to be positioned for a routine win: casually gliding along the baseline and unbothered by even Millman's most penetrating ground strokes, which produced grunts of exertion, as Kyrgios effortlessly parried them back. But Kyrgios, content to rally without imposing himself on Millman, allowed his veteran opponent to hang around just long enough to seize a break point. Tellingly, on that point, Millman lobbed Kyrgios, who misjudged that the shot would drift long, recovered to hit the signature stroke of the bored and reckless, a tweener. While the trick shot landed in, Kyrgios lost the point and the game, and Millman served out the set.

Serving to open the second set, Kyrgios seemed on the verge of a full-on implosion. He put a routine backhand into the net and double-faulted twice to hand Millman three break points.

Kyrgios matches often feel like Tom Cruise movies—at some point we are forced to watch the hero grow up, or expect to. Today, in this match, this was the moment—and he came through, rallying behind a dazzling display of power, including two second serves that clocked in at 130 m.p.h. or faster. In the blink of an eye, he recovered to deuce, then closed out the game on a 126 m.p.h. ace. From there he wound allow Millman just one game en route to asserting himself and securing the second set 6-1.

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Brilliance and petulance: Nick Kyrgios undone by injury, Millman, self

Brilliance and petulance: Nick Kyrgios undone by injury, Millman, self

By the start of the third set, no doubt owing to a rare combination of ennui and fait accompli, the crowd, which had formed a prohibitively long line outside before the match, was well below capacity. It seemed that Kyrgios had found his motivation and would run out the match in two quick sets.

But at 2-1, on serve, in the third set, Kyrgios took an injury time out to address a sudden shoulder issue. In his post-match press conference, he explained that after one serve, his shoulder simply didn’t seem right, and that it ached. From then on, he was a different man, and his game quickly deteriorated into an increasingly low-percentage, high-risk and obviously futile display punctuated by those two code violations, one for an audible obscenity while sitting in his chair at 3-2, the second after meekly surrendering the set, and smashing his racket en route back to the chair when it looked for all the world like he was on the verge of retirement. In his press conference he said he never considered retiring and that he owed Millman, with whom he enjoys a warm relationship, the respect of finishing the match.

Clearly, though, Kyrgios didn’t feel like he owed himself or the crowd the respect of competing gamely, attempting a less aggressive and suicidal strategy. The fourth set was, to put it kindly, a disappointment, as Kyrgios hit second serves with abandon, despite his injury, similarly punished forehands and casually hit lobs and drop shots, many of which either fell into the net or wide, or set up nicely for Millman to pass him. By 3-0, an onscreen display of the unforced error stat told the story of the match: 53 for Kyrgios versus a stingy 18 for Millman.

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Brilliance and petulance: Nick Kyrgios undone by injury, Millman, self

Brilliance and petulance: Nick Kyrgios undone by injury, Millman, self

By the final game, Kyrgios seemed resigned to a fate partially imposed on him by injury and part by impatience: he ripped two returns into the net, put a go-for-broke forehand wide, and sent his last return long to hand over the match to Millman.

In his press conference, Kyrgios reiterated his now familiar bad-boy claims of not being especially dedicated to his sport.

“There are players out there that are more dedicated, that want to get better every day, the one-percenters. I’m not that guy,” he said, going on to volunteer that in Cincinnati, where he made the final, he played an hour of basketball before playing David Ferrer in the semis, and enjoyed a milkshake everyday.

Is there a more electrifying player in tennis right now than Kyrgios? At his best, in those matches against the game’s greatest players, maybe not—Kyrgios’ semifinal against Roger Federer in Key Biscayne earlier this year might have been 2017’s finest men’s contest, and certainly its most compelling best-of-three.

But, to adapt and extend his own observation from Cincinnati, the pressing issue isn’t whether or not Kyrgios can go toe-to-toe with the highest-ranked players in the game, but how to find the incentive to finish the job over less gifted ball-strikers on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis—and how to gut out, or die trying, a win when the body falters and the head, whether it likes it or not, emerges as the best available weapon.

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Brilliance and petulance: Nick Kyrgios undone by injury, Millman, self

Brilliance and petulance: Nick Kyrgios undone by injury, Millman, self

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