Kyrgios in heated exchange with SW19 officials

Kyrgios beat Monaco 7-6 (7/5) 6-3 6-4 in the second round but the world No 29 attracted attention again for a number of angry outbursts on Court 18.

The most controversial occurred at 6-5 in the opening set when a line judge made a complaint to the umpire after Kyrgios had uttered an string of expletives in response to his missed shot.

An altercation followed as Kyrgios was heard asking the umpire: “Is that a threat?” and “Does it feel good to be up there in that chair? Does it make you feel strong?”

The outspoken player, who made his name at SW19 with a shock victory over Rafael Nadal last year, was asked to explain the incident in his post-match press conference.

“I don’t know what he said. I was just asking the umpire what the line judge said. I was just curious. I wasn’t causing any drama there,” Kyrgios said.

“I’m aware of what I’m saying. I’m in pain and I’m playing a tennis match at Wimbledon second round. A bit of stress out there. I guess that’s why he did it.”

Kyrgios added: “I just thought he thought he was top dog in the chair really. He was telling me not to speak to him, all that stuff. It doesn’t really matter, you know.”

There was less animosity on Centre Court where defending champion Novak Djokovic cruised to a straight-sets win over Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen.

Nieminen, who reached the quarter-finals in 2006, is retiring at the end of the season and his final appearance at Wimbledon took just an hour and 32 minutes as Djokovic eased to a 6-4 6-2 6-3 victory.

Djokovic had to play through the hottest day ever recorded at Wimbledon with the Met Office recording a nearby temperature of 35.7 degrees Celsius.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought,” Djokovic said.

Fifth seed Kei Nishikori’s tournament is over, however, as the Japanese pulled out of his match against Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo due to a left calf injury.

Maria Sharapova overwhelmed Dutch debutant Richel Hogenkamp 6-3 6-1 to reach the third round of Wimbledon.

Sam Stosur, the 22nd seed from Australia, ousted Urszula Radwanska 6-3 6-4. American Madison Keys posted a 6-7 6-3 6-4 victory over Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland.