Nick Kyrgios claims rival’s coach ‘threatened to fight’ him after Australian Open doubles victory as partner says ‘man thought it was UFC’

Nick Kyrgios claims a rival’s coach ‘threatened to fight’ him after his doubles victory at the Australian Open.

Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis defeated men’s doubles top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic in the second round.

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The maverick Australian is never far away from the drama and was at the centre of the controversy again.

A flashpoint occurred when Kyrgios hit one of the Croatian duo with a ball during the game, and things boiled over after the match.

Kyrgios wrote on Twitter: "Just letting you know after yesterday's chop fest in doubles my opponents coach and trainer proceeded to threaten to fight in the players gym tennis is a soft soft sport @TKokkinakis all because I moved and hit them with a tennis ball.”

Kokkinakis replied: "That was crazy!! Mans thought it was @ufc."

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Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley claimed this sort of thing is ‘not unusual’.

“There was a lot of passion and a lot of energy in the stadium and I think that carried over beyond the stadium,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“I have spoken to Nick and the team and this is not unusual.

“It’s not uncommon … when you have a situation like this and players are beaten and they are expected to win the match and there’s so much passion from the fans.”