Nick Kyrgios will not compete on clay this year, withdrawing from all events

As was expected, world no. 57 Nick Kyrgios will not compete on clay this season, staying at home and missing the upcoming events in Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros.

That barely came as news, as Nick hasn't competed in Europe since the start of the pandemic at the beginning of the previous season. The Aussie hasn't traveled outside his country after returning home from Acapulco in February last year, skipping the rest of the season and not thinking about tennis at all.

Kyrgios returned at two events in Melbourne this February, playing well at the Australian Open but losing to Dominic Thiem from two sets to love lead. Nick's last match on clay came in Rome 2019 when he got defaulted against Casper Ruud in the second round following all kinds of tantrums from his repertoire.

Ruud grabbed the opening set in strong fashion, losing only six points on serve and breaking the Aussie in game two after an underarm serve that didn't go well for Kyrgios. Nick got broken in the second set's game seven before pulling it back in the next game and taking the tie break 7-5 with a service winner to set a decider and give the crowd something to cheer about.

Kyrgios even stole Casper's serve at the beginning of the final set, and then his obstacles started to erupt, talking to the supervisor Gerry Armstrong after the second game's fourth point and getting broken when his forehand landed miles away from the court.

The Aussie started to argue with someone in the stands for moving while he was serving, got a game penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, threw down his racquet and a small chair to the middle of the court. After that, he packed his racquet and sneakers, shook hands with Ruud and umpire and left the court and received a default.