The Australian labelled the umpire’s decision to give Djokovic a time violation as “not necessary” and “ridiculous” and suggested officials “get bored” and “just want to say something instead of the score.”

Djokovic produced his best display of the Australian Open so far to defeat world No 30 Etcheverry 6-3, 6-3, 7-6(2) in the third round of the tournament on Friday.

The world No 1 has been affected with illness and, perhaps, the after effects of a wrist injury that troubled him at the United Cup earlier this month during his campaign in Melbourne.

After performing well below his best in four-set wins over Dino Prizmic and Alexei Popyrin in his first two matches, the Serbian improved his level against the 24-year-old Argentine.

The 10-time champion dominated on serve as he hit 10 aces, won 86% of points on his first serve, 59% of points behind his second serve and did not face a break point in the match.

Kyrgios, who was commentating on the match for Eurosport, slammed the time violation warning Djokovic received when preparing to serve at 1-1, 30-15 in the third set.

“Not necessary, ridiculous! Just ridiculousness! It’s like they (umpires) get bored and they just want to say something instead of the score, like ridiculous,” the 28-year-old asserted.

"Not necessary… it's like they get bored!" ❌

Nick Kyrgios slams the umpire for giving Novak Djokovic a time violation ⏱#AusOpen pic.twitter.com/OWiu1q2vUE

— Eurosport (@eurosport) January 19, 2024

“It completely ruins the flow of the match. It just gave him (Djokovic) more time to compose himself.”

Djokovic will face Adrian Mannarino in the fourth round of the Australian Open after the 35-year-old Frenchman overcame Ben Shelton in a five-set marathon – his third straight five-set win.

Kyrgios is working as a commentator at the Australian Open for Eurosport and ESPN. The 2022 Wimbledon runner-up is not competing at the Melbourne Grand Slam as he continues his recovery from injury and is yet to confirm when he will return.

Following an excellent 2022 season, Kyrgios was sidelined through injury last year and played his only competitive match of the campaign in Stuttgart in June.

The former world No 13 underwent knee surgery in January 2023 and has since suffered further setbacks, including a wrist injury that derailed his intended comeback during the grass-court season.