Rasheed, a former professional tennis player who reached his highest singles ranking of 192 in 1992, took a stab at Kyrgios for playing doubles as well as singles at the US Open, with the 21-year-old forced to withdraw due to a hip injury in the third round.

Rasheed believed the extra workload contributed to Kygios’ early exit from Flushing Meadows.

And Kyrgios responded in typical fashion by having a dig at Rasheed’s less than glowing playing career.

"John McEnroe takes a stab, I understand, Roger Rasheed haha maybe not so much. I got to ur (your) career high when I was 18... ease up champ," Kyrgios tweeted on Tuesday.

Rasheed said Kyrgios, who does not have a full-time coach, should have refrained from over exerting himself by taking part in doubles matches while carrying a pre-existing injury.

He added that his latest Grand Slam outcome could have been different if Kyrgios had a coach in his corner. 

 "This is the difference between having a coach and not having a coach," Rasheed told Sky Sports Radio.

 "If you were looking after Nick in this situation, you would say: `OK you're playing singles, on the days off there's no doubles'.

   "You may not even hit on those days because we're looking after your body so you can play singles and play it effectively."

Rasheed’s comments followed that of former world No.1 John McEnroe who was also critical of Kyrgios’ showing in New York.

"Nick Kyrgios, if you don't want to be a professional tennis player, do something else," McEnroe said while commentating on US television.

"He's hurt because he's not training enough."