Nick Kyrgios has never been one to sit on the fence over a controversial issue, and now he’s hit out at the ‘horrible call’ that overshadowed Jack Draper’s win over Felix Auger-Aliassime. The Aussie player and commentator delivered his brutal two-word assessment over the saga on social media, after the British No.1 sealed victory with a debatable match point.

Draper was leading 5-4 and 40-30 in the deciding set when he appeared to shank an attempted half-volley, the ball looping up in the air, hitting the top of the net, and landing agonisingly on Auger-Aliassime’s side of the court.

The Canadian was outraged at the point being awarded though, with replays suggesting his rival had hit the ball into the ground before it deflected up in the air.

In what became a four-minute dispute at the net between players and officials, Draper said frequently he was unsure if his shot had been a legitimate one. “I would replay it,” he told the umpire. “If there was a replay I would replay it but I don’t know?”

After the crowd called for a replay of the point, the 22-year-old eventually got frustrated, arguing he was being unfairly targeted. “I might look like an idiot now because people say I’m not being fair,” he added, as spectators chanted ‘replay replay’. “But I was looking at him.”

Kyrgios however, was having none of it. Replying to a video posted on X by the Tennis TV account, he not only criticised the umpire, but suggested Draper knew full well what had happened.

“Mate. Horrible call, but every player knows you know exactly where you hit it hahaha ridiculous stuff,” he wrote. Indeed, Auger-Aliassime’s first words to Draper when he confronted him at the net were “Jack, you know.”

Regardless, it was Draper who was eventually awarded the point after the umpire refused to reverse his decision. At one point, the match supervisor was even called onto the court, but he too was adamant that the initial decision should stand.

Eventually the Canadian relented, telling the umpire: “If you’re 100 per cent sure that you’re going to leave here and you have no doubt, not one ounce of doubt in yourself that was a clean volley winner, I’ll shake his hand and the match will be over.”

When the official explained “I have to call it as I saw it,” Auger-Aliassime did indeed embrace Draper before leaving the court. The British No.1 had lost the first set 7-5 before fighting back to take the next two 6-4.

And the final scenes marred what was another promising display for him in Cincinnati. Draper will now play Holger Rune in the quarter-finals.