Nick Kyrgios has hammered Borna Coric after the Croatian asked him whether he had taken to Twitter because of booze after Kyrgios accused the player at Novak Djokovic's ill-fated event of "joking about a global pandemic."
Coric claimed he "didn't care" about Kyrgios's opinion of his decision to take part in the tournament that preceded a string of players testing positive for the coronavirus last month, setting himself on a collision course with the man who has launched repeated social media attacks on what he sees as the idiocy of some of the stars of the sport.
Kyrgios duly joked that the 23-year-old had "rocks in his head" and openly wondered whether that the predicament of Grigor Dimitrov, a fellow participant who revealed he had been laid low with the virus for a month, was "too much for that brain of yours to process."
Coric nodded to the Australian's taste for controversial behavior by hitting back: "You're preaching about behavior? Bored much or too much to drink?"
That caused Kyrgios to label Coric as stupid and immature, appearing to suggest that their next meeting in person will be fiery by thundering, "Again, joking about a global pandemic.
"Shows your maturity level, champion. Gonna be good to see you next, see if that peanut of a brain has grown."
Kyrgios has forcefully criticized the players involved in Djokovic's tournament events in Serbia and Croatia, which took place in front of a crowd of 4,000 people in Belgrade, did not observe social distancing measures and featured several players embracing each other, playing football, posing for photos and visiting a nightclub in close proximity to each other.
He fell out with tennis great Boris Becker over his reproachful takedowns and was clearly in no mood to hold back after Coric publicly questioned him.
"A tad bored watching your boring ass tennis and personality bringing absolutely zero to the sport," he snapped at the player ranked seven places above his position of 40th. "The athletes I have to deal with."
Coric did not respond to Kyrgios's jibes, having previously announced himself as "back on court and Corona-free" two weeks after contracting the virus.
He told a tennis journalist that he loved the red wine that Coric had indicated might have driven him to Twitter, adding: "There was also a time where people had brains.
"Comparing on-court behaviour to putting lives at risk – it's embarrassing."
Kyrgios also said that his notorious on-court baiting of Rafael Nadal had brought the best out of both players, causing some fans to question whether his poor record against the Spaniard allowed him to call the world number two a rival.
"I'm the devil," he added on his Instagram story, posing by a luxury car before voicing his excitement at the return of the NBA on Thursday.
Also on rt.com 'You AREN'T special': Kyrgios accuses tennis star who caught coronavirus at Djokovic's tournament of having 'ROCKS in his head'