A devastated Nick Kyrgios admitted on Tuesday evening that this could be the last time he would play singles at the Australian Open.
The injury-plagued star said he had battled not to throw in the towel during his defeat by British star Jacob Fearnley as his abdominal strain took its toll during the match.
Doubts had been raised over his fitness coming into the Australian Open, with the 29-year-old previously admitting that it would be a ‘miracle’ if he could make it back for the slam.
But he made a huge claim after the match stating: ‘Realistically, I can’t really see myself playing singles again here.
‘So… It was special. I’ve taken that in. It was pretty good. I mean, yeah, I knew I had doubles and I was kind of taking everything in tonight, in those moments.’
‘It was nuts. But yeah, I didn’t want to just throw in the towel or walk off or retire.’
Kyrgios added that he was ‘hurting physically’ but he wasn’t going to let down the fans ‘who had waited hours’ outside Melbourne Park to get into the grounds today.
The Aussie had shared snaps of the huge queues of fans waiting outside the tournament to get into the stadium on his Instagram, with some stating that they had been in line for nearly five hours.
But after taking a big sigh, again the Australian repeated himself: ‘Again, I can’t see myself realistically playing a singles match here again.’
But it won’t be the end of his career. Kyrgios stated that he will continue to play doubles and if his body is right, will continue to play singles at the remaining slams this year.
‘I knew tonight was going to be tough,’ he said.
‘With my physical state, I knew I was going to be really hindered with my serve. But just seeing the fans line up for four or five hours and the amount of people that were supporting me – it was hard to throw the towel in.
‘It would have been really easy to just roll over but I tried to do the best I could with the state I was in physically.
‘Obviously, it was heartbreaking. I wanted to play well and the timing of the abdominal strain is not good but it is what it is.’
Kyrgios, tennis’ great entertainer, explained his feelings after suffering the 7-6 (7-3) 6-3 defeat by Fearnely, with the Australian stating that it was ‘hard.’
‘When you’re competing for the biggest tournaments in the world and you’re struggling to win sets, physically, it’s pretty tough.
‘But I still have a long year ahead and I’m trusting the process that I can still do some cool things in the year ahead.
‘All my focus is now is to not take anything for granted and playing doubles with Thanasi [Kokkinakis], we’ve won doubles here before, but we owe it to each other to go out there in front of the crowd and have a bit of fun.’
While he suffered defeat today, the 29-year-old certainly gave the fans at the John Cain Arena something to smile about, producing some sensational trick shots, including multiple under-arm serves before striking a brilliant tweener past Fearnley.
The first set was a cagey affair, with Kyrgios notably clocking up speeds on his serve of 208km/h.
He vented on course to himself, stating: ‘F**king serving 205(km/h) when I can serve 230(km/h).’
He had struck 13 aces and 35 winners in the match, but his inability to get up to full speed weighed on him.
He even referred to Fearnley as a ‘challenge player’.
‘I’ve got a f**king challenger player serving bigger than me,’ he said. ‘It’s a lot of fun for me.’
It would come down to a tiebreak, with the Aussie ultimately going down 7-3.
He’d go on to suffer a break early on in the second set, going over to his coaching team and said: ‘I had a grade one before I got here,” he said. “I don’t even know why I played.
‘So f**ing dumb.’
He called the physios onto the court during the breaks in play and they appeared to administer some treatment to his abdomen.
Kyrgios was overheard saying: ‘I’m just going to keep going until I can’t go anymore.’
While he would fight to the bitter end against Fearnley, breaking back against the Brit at 3-3, he would ultimately lose out on a tiebreak.
The Scot, meanwhile, who admitted he was anxious but excited prior to the match, rose to the occasion and played brilliantly, despite the partisan Melbourne cheering Kyrgios on.
‘I thought I played good,’ Fearnley, who is being dubbed the ‘next Andy Murray’ said.
‘Sorry for Nick. I could tell he was dealing with some stuff but I thought it was a great match and I really enjoyed playing in front of you guys.’
He added: ‘All things considered, that was the best match I’ve ever played.’
