Nick Kyrgios Is Still a Sideshow on the Big Stage

The dude who put the flam in flamboyant has flamed out already.

And how in the name of the US Open does Nick Kyrgios draw No 3 seed Andy Murray as a first-round opponent?

As über-talented as this 20-year-old Aussie is, one would think the tourney officials would do a Sepp Blatter or something and rig the bracket so he'd hang around for a while.

But the more disciplined and experienced Murray quashed that notion -- with plenty of help from Kyrgios, it must be said -- in a 7-5, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 display of fundamentals over fun like this:

And fecklessness like this:

And possible bouts of narcolepsy like this:

It all moved no less an authority on the subject than John McEnroe to comment:

You don’t want to be remembered as a clown. You want to be remembered as a player.

Thus, it can officially said that Kyrgios has gone beyond the pale.

And now, for the year's last Grand Slam event, he's just gone.