Nick Kyrgios accused officials of “rigging” his first-round match at the Fever-Tree Championships and admonished himself for “playing FIFA until 3am”.

The outspoken Australian, renowned for his on-court outbursts and meltdowns, launched an expletive-ridden rant at umpire Fergus Murphy after missing a set point against Roberto Carballes Baena, claiming the Spaniard had double-faulted.

He said: “Bro you are taking the f****** p*** mate? The ball was this far out, no joke. No joke. What are you doing? It’s so far long. What are you doing?

Fever-Tree Championship – Preview Day – Queen’s Club
Kyrgios is one of tennis’ more outspoken players (Steven Paston/PA)

“Like, what are you actually doing up there? It was this far out. Bro, it’s taking the p***. I refuse to play.”

After Murphy issued a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct, Kyrgios continued his tirade.

“It couldn’t have been further out. What are you doing? Jesus. Was that not out, the second serve?  It’s a joke, man. It’s a serious joke,” he said.

“Like, your hat looks ridiculous, also. It’s not even sunny.”

After another point, Kyrgios added: “The ball was this far out on the second serve. I’m going. I’m not going to give 100 per cent when I’ve got linesmen rigging the game, I don’t want to play.

“You wonder why I don’t try half the time. Literally the set had finished, he double-faulted. Why am I playing at 5-5? Absolute joke.”

Having won the first set on a tie-break, Kyrgios was closing in on the match when he hit a poor lob to gift Carballes Baena a point.

“So lazy, do something, so lazy you are,” he muttered to himself. “You were playing FIFA until 3am, what do you expect?”

In the final game Kyrgios, 40-0 down, petulantly began returning from just outside the service line and somehow wrapped up the match 7-6 (4) 6-3.

As if that were not enough, Kyrgios faced a second match due to rain delays earlier in the week, and was beaten in three sets by Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime.

It was a tame affair by comparison, although Kyrgios still managed to collect a code violation after smacking a ball right out of Queen’s Club.

He threw in a smattering of underarm serves, overruled one line call in favour of his opponent and ranted at a camerawoman for taking his photo while he blew his nose.

The match went with serve until 6-5 in the third when Auger-Aliassime secured the only break to win 6-7 (4) 7-6 (3) 7-5.