Dominic Thiem loses it and smashes up his racquet before shock exit from Australian Open

Dominic Thiem dealt with an early exit from the Australian Open in brutal fashion as he destroyed his tennis racquet.

Seventh seed Thiem was dumped out in the second round by Aussie teenager and wildcard Alexei Popyrin, and let his temper get the better of him during the match.

Backed by a vociferous home crowd, Popyrin flew through the first set and began to frustrate the Austrian, who was heavy favourite to win.

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Thiem could be heard swearing to himself and was warned by the umpire for smashing his racquet against the floor during the 11th game of the first set.

But he could not hold his anger anymore when a long return handed Popyrin the game and a 6-5 lead in the crucial first set.

Thiem repeatedly smashed his racquet against the ground, completely ruining it and earning the wrath of the crowd, before throwing it away in disgust.

He was given a code violation for his actions and attracted plenty of criticism from those in the ground and watching on social media.

Thiem failed to refocus ahead of the next game and Popyrin took it 7-5, before winning the second set by the same scoreline.

The Austrian was 2-0 down in the third set when he retired hurt, much to the delight of the home crowd who saw a homegrown hero produce one of the biggest upsets of the tournament so far.

Thiem has previous for smashing up his racquet when things aren’t going away, including an incident at the French Open last year where he gave it to a lady in the crowd once he’d finished letting his anger out.