Nick Kyrgios may have just played his last singles match at the Australian Open.
After a heartbreaking 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 defeat to British youngster Jacob Fearnley – who was playing in his first overseas Grand Slam match – home favourite Kyrgios battled through the pain barrier but ultimately succumbed to his superior opponent in two hours and 19 minutes in front of a raucous crowd on the lively John Cain Arena, but then declared: “Realistically, I can’t see myself playing singles again here.”
Kyrgious, who is using a protected ranking to gain entry to the tournament – was gracious in defeat and credited Fearnley whose stock is rising fast having cracked the top 100 last year: “It’s incredible to be back. It was definitely not my best performance. But, look, full credit to my opponent. He played really well tonight. I was really impressed with his level. Hits the ball really flat, really aggressive. He outplayed me. He outserved me. He returned well. He did a lot of things amazing. He’s played a lot of matches. He’s an in-form player. He’s transitioning very nicely.”
Kyrgios suffered an abdominal injury just five days before the opening Grand Slam of the season, but chose not to dwell on that and instead paid huge tribute to the crowd after his tough loss.
“I just want to start with the atmosphere, it was special. Like taking that in, it was pretty good. I kind of was taking everything in tonight in those moments. It was, yeah, nuts. I didn’t want to just throw in the towel and walk off or retire. I was hurting physically. I respect my opponent. The fans waited hours to come see me play. But I mean, realistically I can’t see myself playing a singles match here again.
I knew tonight was going to be tough. With my physical state going into the match, I knew that I was going to be really hindered with my serve. But just seeing the fans line up for four, five hours, just the amount of people that were there supporting me, it was hard to kind of throw the towel in. Would have been really easy to kind of just roll over.
I tried to do the best I could with the state I was in physically. Obviously heartbreaking because, yeah, I obviously wanted to play well. I feel like my level’s there. The timing of the abdominal strain is not ideal. But it is what it is.”
Kyrgios has without doubt been one of the most entertaining – and outspoken – characters on the ATP tour since he burst in to the public domain with his shock upset over then World number one Rafael Nadal in the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2014. Since then, he has had a complicated relationship with crowds around the world, with his on-court behaviour, regular racket smashes, and well as opinionated views on former and current players causing a stir with almost everyone following the game.
After the match he spoke in elaborate detail about his thoughts on the lively home crowd.
“Yeah, it was crazy. I know towards the start of my career I had a very love/hate relationship with the crowd here. I tried my nuts off, lost in five sets and I remember getting booed off that court. Fast forward to the later stages of my career. I went out there, I would say 65% of my capacity. For them to really see me fighting and still giving me that energy, it meant a lot, because I feel like I’ve given my life to tennis and I’ve tried to give them a show every time I go out there. I know I didn’t do that tonight.
There are moments for me that are special that I won’t forget. Really, they were tagging me in stories beforehand, like we waited four or five hours to line up. That was a big motivation for me tonight to not throw the towel in, just shake my opponent’s hand after the first set. There was no way my abdominal was going to get better. We knew that. I really enjoyed the way the crowd gave me energy. I wanted to give them two-and-a-half hours of tennis rather than a retirement.”
The former world number 13’s career has been hampered by constant injuries, forcing him out of the last two editions of this tournament, but confirmed he was entering the doubles with fellow countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“All my focus now is just not taking anything for granted. Playing doubles with Thanasi, one of my good mates, we’ve won this event before. We owe it to each other to go out there in front of the crowd and have a bit of fun. Obviously, I know that he’s a physical wreck most of the time, but he somehow pushes through. Props to him for getting through his match today.”
When asked whether he could compete at the highest level again given his injury record, he replied: “I don’t know… I was knocking on the door from playing some of the biggest events, winning some of the biggest events. To see how hard I worked in the last year…I didn’t think I was going to be back here anyway playing. I didn’t get a wild card. I’m here because I feel like I deserve to be here.
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. 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. I’m one of the biggest servers on tour and I’m getting outserved tonight. My average serve speed was beneath 200km/h. I mean, Nick Kyrgios without his serve is probably not a threat to many players.”
While Kyrgios said he slept well in anticipation of one of his biggest matches for the last two years, he admitted that his true motivation for playing through the pain barrier was because of the crowd.
“My wrist surgery was 16 months ago, and I’ve put in a lot of work. I didn’t play in a Grand Slam for over 800 days. I continued to stay motivated through all those days by watching everyone else play, I was on the couch in a cast. I stayed motivated. I trained. I was in the gym. I’m in good shape. But 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.”
Kyrgios still plans to play a good schedule this year including all the Slams, as well as being included for the doubles in Davis Cup. However, he feels there is some unfinished business at the green lawns of the All England Club – losing to Novak Djokovic in the 2022 Final – and which remains one of his top goals.
“I’ll play the Grand Slams. I’ve got my protected ranking. Obviously, Wimbledon is a big one for me. I still feel like, if my body’s feeling good, I’ll be able to make some noise at Wimbledon.”
