Wimbledon: Kyrgios's capitulation causes conqueror Murray to offer advice to enigmatic Australian

British No 1 Murray looked every inch the title favourite in a 7-5 6-1 6-4 win, but Kyrgios lost his focus in the second set and did not give his opponent the test that had been expected.

Kyrgios said ahead of the match that it was “love at first sight” with Murray, and the Scot often stands up for his friend when he receives negative press.

There is guaranteed to be more of that after this performance, and this time Murray was in no mood to defend the 21-year-old.

The world No 2 said: “I think he’s got a bit of time on his side. But obviously there’s a few things he needs to improve and get better at. The sooner he does that, the better for him and his career.”

Kyrgios stayed with Murray until 5-5 in the first set but was broken in the 12th game and then lost his way midway through the second.

He stood to receive serve and repeated the word ‘Wow’ loudly to himself several times and then angrily smashed a return wide. Kyrgios said: “It was a good first set. The rest of the match was pretty pathetic.

“I was really comfortable out there the first set. I thought I was playing some really good tennis. I believed that I could win the match.

“As soon as I lost the first set, I just lost belief. Obviously it felt like a mountain to climb after losing the first.

“I think when things get tough, I’m just a little bit soft. I’ve got experience, but it ultimately comes down to just laying it all out there and competing for a long time. I didn’t do that (yesterday) at all.”

BBC pundit John McEnroe was extremely critical of Kyrgios both during and after the match.

“Disappointment would be an understatement in describing Kyrgios’s effort, particularly as the match went on,” said the former Wimbledon champion.

“He played a horrible point at 30-40 in the first set to lose it, but that means you’ve got to dig in and show, ‘I’m going to play even harder and I want it even more’, instead of just throwing the second set away.

“He’s got to look in the mirror if he wants to become a top player and win slams now. Certainly based on that performance I’ve become more concerned.”

Kyrgios knows he needs to do better, but appears unsure how to go about it.

Asked if he was applying himself fully, the 15th seed shook his head and, when asked if that was something he wanted to address, he replied: “I don’t know.”

The tears that he was struggling to hold back showed that he does care, and he added: “At times, like I’ve previously said, I don’t love the sport. But I don’t really know what else to do without it.

“I know that I have the talent to do good things. It’s just, yeah.

“I woke up this morning and played computer games. Is that the greatest preparation? I don’t know. But it was fun.

“Every time I come here, I lose to good players. But it’s just disappointing. I don’t know. I just want to do better.”