Eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas has bundled out in the first round of the US Open in dramatic fashion - and fourth seed Dominic Thiem followed suit on a shocking day in New York.
The 21-year old Greek star went down 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (9-7) 7-5 to Rublev, while Thiem fell to Italian Thomas Fabbiano 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-2 - but it was Tsitsipas' on-court spray to umpire Damien Dumusois where he labelled him a 'weirdo' that was a big talking point.
During the fourth set, Tsitsipas began to cramp and got into a heated exchange with the official and went on a bizarre rant as he pleaded for time to change.
MORE: Osaka shaky in first round
"I don’t care. Do whatever you want because you’re the worst.
"For some reason you have something against me, I don’t know what you have….because you’re French, probably. And, and you’re all weirdos. You’re all weirdos.
"Give me a warning, I don’t care, give me a warning, yeah give me warning".
It has been a rollercoaster 2019 for the Athenian, who defeated Roger Federer in the Australian Open in January - but he has now been eliminated in consecutive first-rounds in grand slams.
Thiem was expected to make light work of Fabbiano but crashed out and opened up the draw completely.
Meanwhile, rising Aussie star Alexei Popyrin is through to the second round after defeating Federico Delbonis 6-1 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in straight sets.
MORE: Kyrgios lashes out ahead of US Open
The 20-year old will face Mikhail Kukushkin in the second round after he beat 10th seed Roberto Bautista Agut in five sets.
Australia's best hope in the men's draw, Nick Kyrgios, will play his first round match at 10.15am (AEST).
The early exits of Agut and Tsitsipas make the 24-year old's run a lot easier on paper.
