Tennis legend Pat Rafter has declared he is no longer prepared to mentor young star Nick Kyrgios unless he heeds his advice, saying the 19-year-old is too emotional on court.

Speaking during day two of the Australian Open, Rafter said Kyrgios needed to calm down and find balance.

• GALLERY Nick Kyrgios’ amazing rise
• Why Kyrgios should pull out of Aus Open

Kyrgios smashed his racket on Monday night after losing a set during his match against Federirco Delbonis, which he went on to win.

“Nick’s a cheeky little bugger, he’s a funny kid, and I like his personality,” Rafter, Tennis Australia’s newly-appointed director of performance, told Fairfax media.

Nick Kyrgios smashes his racket on Monday night. Photo: Getty

“But in terms or mentoring him or tutoring, I’ll only be there if he wants to talk to me, because he knows exactly how I feel.

“I’ve had enough conversations with him, and he doesn’t want to keep hearing the same message from me, and I’m not going to go down that path any more.

“Nick knows exactly how I feel. I think it’s important for him to be a bit more level; he’s still too emotional. It really shows up on the court.

“His off-court demeanour will certainly affect his on-court behaviour, as well, and I think that’s the whole package that he still needs to get a lot better at, so for him he needs to calm himself down and find a balance, and I still don’t think he’s reached that yet.”

Australian tennis great and commentator Fred Stolle agreed with Rafter, saying Kyrgios had to curtail his “antics on court”.

“Didn’t he get a warning for smashing a racquet the other night? If you want to call them antics or frustrations or temper, but it’s something that he’s got to get rid of…. I don’t mind a bit of emotion – that’s not emotion,” Stolle said.

“Lleyton [Hewitt] got annoyed and abused people but he never, he never broke racquets.”