Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios has dropped a retirement bombshell, admitting he fears he has played his last singles match at the Australian Open.
The 29-year-old was knocked out in the opening round of his home grand slam on Monday, going down to by Brit Jacob Fearnley in straight sets (7-6, 6-3, 7-6).
Kyrgios, who has been plagued by injury over the past two years, said he only fought through the pain of an abdominal strain suffered days before the tournament because he didn’t want to let the Aussie fans down.
“I didn’t want to just throw in the towel and walk off or retire,” he said.
“I was hurting physically. I respect my opponent. The fans waited hours to come see me play”.
Following the clash, a “heartbroken” Kyrgios told reporters he had likely played his last singles match on home soil.
“Realistically, I can’t see myself playing a singles match here again,” he said.
“It’s hard. When you’re competing for the biggest tournaments in the world and you’re struggling to win sets physically, it’s pretty tough.
“Honestly, the reason I kept playing, tried to play tonight, was because of the fans.
“As I said, I don’t know how many times I’m going to be back here again. That’s why I didn’t have headphones on, I wasn’t listening to music. I walked out there today, wanted to hear the crowd. There were some special moments.
“But I’ve still got a long year ahead. I’m trusting the process that I can still be able to do some cool things this year at some stage.”
Kyrgios still plans to play in the doubles with his good mate Thanassi Kokkinakis, who fought through his own injury to win his first round singles match and advance to the second round
