Nick Kyrgios's vanquished opponent defended the teenager's on-court conduct after the Australian flirted with disqualification from the US Open on Monday.
Kyrgios backed up his Wimbledon slaying of Rafael Nadal with a stirring 7-5 7-6 (7-4) 2-6 7-6 (7-1) victory over classy Russian Mikhail Youzhny on his Flushing Meadows main-draw debut.
But the 19-year-old stood just one point away from being forfeited after earning three code violations during the tense and high-quality three-hour encounter on Show Court 17.
Kyrgios smashed a ball out of the stadium in frustration during the second set, then dropped the F-bomb before being docked a game in the fourth set for a second audible obscenity.
"Most players never even see that (game) penalty. I've seen it," tennis superbrat John McEnroe said while commentating on American television.
In Kyrgios's defence, he was only penalised a game - to fall behind 3-1 in the set - because his third offence came on game point against him.
Unfazed, he held his next service game to love before breaking back to advance to the second round in an otherwise impressive performance.
Youzhny, one of the tour's elder statesmen and a two-time Open semi-finalist, felt Kyrgios's behaviour was little more than a display of passion and youthful exuberance.
"He's young. I mean, it's normal. It's emotion, it's everything," Youzhny said.
"He looks like he has lots of emotions. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it's not (helping)."
Kyrgios conceded his outbursts probably don't help and that he was trying to eliminate them from his game.
"It just comes from having high expectations most of the time," he said.
"I have been an emotional player most of my career. Maybe I will be able to manage it in the future.
"It's a work in progress. It's something that's always been there."
Kyrgios admitted before the Open he was feeling the weight of expectation from back in Australia and said Monday's dummy spits were "I guess just heat of the moment".
"I was frustrated the way I was playing, and, yeah, it was just all that sort of stuff," he said.
"It was just an outburst, and hopefully I will be able to control that the next time I play."
Youzhny tipped a bright future for the former world junior champion.
"He played well. We saw already at Wimbledon how he can play," the Russian said.
"He beat some good players and I think if he works hard he will have a good future."
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