Defending champion Nick Kyrgios has slammed the crowd at the ATP World Tour event in Acapulco after being booed off the court when he was forced to retire from his first-round match because of injury.
Kyrgios pulled the pin after losing the first set 6-3 to France's Ugo Humbert, with his decision met with a chorus of boos as he departed the tournament that he won 12 months ago.
The Australian wore an ice pack on his injured left wrist while attending his post-match media conference, where he let his feelings be known about the crowd's behaviour.
"I couldn't give a f***," Kyrgios said.
"I literally couldn't give a f***. I'm not healthy, I tried to come here, I tried to play. I've been doing media for the tournament … helping out.
"I tried to play, I tried to give the fans a little bit of tennis … they [were] disrespectful, so I honestly couldn't give a f***."
Kyrgios, who was the sixth seed in Acapulco, received treatment for his wrist injury during a medical timeout in the first set.
He informed the trainer he was "going to pull out" as he had his wrist taped, eventually doing so four games later.
Kyrgios said he had been troubled by the injury in the wake of the Australian Open in Melbourne, where he reached the fourth round last month.
"I've been dealing with a wrist injury the last couple of weeks," he said.
"After the Australian Open I took a week-and-a-half off and then I started hitting again. I started feeling my wrist. I didn't play last week in Delray [Beach].
"I still came here, I still thought I'd be able to play but my wrist is not ready to play.
"I could feel it on every backhand. It's unfortunate. After the memories I had last year, it was tough for me to come here and pull out."
Kyrgios had been a late scratching from last week's Delray Beach tournament, while he had also withdrawn from the New York Open earlier this month because of a shoulder injury.
The world number 23 will slide down the rankings as a result of his early exit in Acapulco.
Kyrgios may now be in doubt for Australia's Davis Cup tie against Brazil in Adelaide beginning on March 6.
In other Australian results in Acapulco, John Millman lost 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to American Taylor Fritz, and Alex Bolt went down to Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-3, 7-6 (7-5).
