Ask any teenager about their dad's wardrobe choice, particularly when he's donned a loud T-shirt and an Akubra, and their response is likely to be one of embarrassment and dismissiveness.

But not every teen has to respond into a microphone, in front of a packed sporting arena and to an international television audience. And for that, teenage tennis sensation Nick Kyrgios is somewhat counting the cost on social media.

The 19-year-old Canberran has been accused by some on Twitter of being arrogant and his attitude has been compared to that of fellow Australian young gun Bernard Tomic following his post-match interview at the Australian Open on Wednesday night.

Kyrgios, who has become the poster boy of the Australian Open, had just defeated 23rd seed Ivo Karlovic, 7-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 on a rapturous showcourt three when he paused for the traditional on-court interview with Channel Seven.

Some of his responses were interpreted as being cocky and sarcastic.

The interviewer said to Kyrgios: "It was a good comeback from you in that fourth set, because you know, Newc [commentator John Newcombe] said in the commentary 'Lose this one, you're into a fifth, anything can happen.' "

Kyrgios responded: "Well, yeah, that's usually what happens when you lose a fourth set, you go into a fifth one, so um yeah, I didn't want to do that because, you know, he's obviously got one of the best serves. So, you know, I just stayed calm and I knew that I was going to get my chances again and I just, I really picked it up on my serving."

He was then asked about his parents - father George and mother Nill - who were watching from the player's box at Melbourne Park.

Mr Kyrgios was wearing the same Akubra and "lucky" fluorescent striped shirt that he wore during his son's Wimbledon wins last year.

"Yeah he's got it [the lucky shirt] on. I don't know why he does that. I mean I'm not big on karma and superstition so I don't really know why he does that," he said, with a small smile.

Kyrgios said his mother was always nervous watching him play.

"She doesn't really like watching me live and, you know. Today I saw her in the box, so that was actually surprising, so it's good to know she's starting to get comfortable watching me."

He paid tribute to the crowd who had turned out to watch him surge through to the third round, saying: "I lost concentration a bit in the third and obviously he's [Karlovic's] a good enough player to take advantage of that but, you know, the crowd was unbelievable and I really enjoyed it out here today."

Despite his victory, some were unimpressed with his attitude.

"Is this an interview with Kyrgios or Tomic...?! Don't be an arse mate," tweeted @mike_j_sutton.

@shirlld tweeted: "What the heck is going on...Tomic does a great interview while Kyrgios was pretty cocky in his...role reversal at it's best!!!"

"Dude didn't even attempt to smile. Success gotten into his head," tweeted @MrBrightside_G.

Kyrgios' on court demeanour has been criticised - either subtly or overtly - by Australian tennis greats Pat Rafter and Fred Stolle, and on Wednesday he was fined an aggregate of $4500 for "racquet abuse" and "audible obscenity" from his first-round match.

Following the match, Kyrgios tweeted: 

So many great messages, I can't like and comment back to all but I read EVERY SINGLE ONE of them, thank you. #NoWords #Pumped — Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) January 21, 2015