Nick Kyrgios admits he is unsure about what the future has in store for his tennis career after he was forced to retire from his first round match at the BNP Paribas Open due to wrist pain.
The former Wimbledon finalist illustrated glimpses of his talent during his clash against Botic van de Zandschulp. In the first set, he came back from a 1-4 deficit to force a tiebreak before losing. Then, in the second frame, an emotional Kyrgios was forced to call it quits when down 0-3 due to injury.
“We go back to the drawing board as a team and we try and figure out a way to get through these matches,” Kyrgios said during his press conference.
“I would have loved to be able to finish that match, even if I lose just as a building block to say, okay, I went out there and was competing with a very good player, and I had chances and set points and breakpoints.
“But now if I’m not finishing matches that becomes a concern.”
After undergoing rehab following the Australian Open, the former top 20 player revealed he felt a ‘sharp pain’ during the second-last point of a training session he had in Indian Wells earlier this week. As a result, he stopped playing at the time in the hope he would recover.
Injury issues have hampered Kyrgios’ career, especially since he reached his first Grand Slam final in 2022. He only played one Tour-level match in 2023 and none last season. During his 18-month absence from the sport, he underwent wrist reconstruction surgery which has not stopped him from having pain in the area.
As for where he goes from here, the Australian admits it is a bit of an ‘experiment.’
“No one in the sport has had a wrist reconstruction and tried to play after that,” said Kyrgios. “There’s been players that have had wrist surgeries and nowhere near as bad as what I had.
“It would be nice if someone had this injury prior if I could just go there and ask them, OK, these are setbacks you were having.
“It’s all an experiment at this point. I was told I was arguably maybe not ever playing tennis again. I feel I’m like right there, I feel like I can compete.
“This guy (van de Zandschulp) beat (Carlos) Alcaraz at US Open in straight sets, and I’ve got set points against him in the first set. I’m there, but if I’m not able to finish matches it doesn’t really matter at this point.”
Despite his woes, Kyrgios isn’t prepared to give up just yet and still hopes to be able to play at the Miami Masters later this month.
“Obviously the time frame of Miami is not ideal, but I was scheduled to play that, so I will see how my wrist responds,” he said.
“And if not Miami, I will keep looking forward.”
“This is all I’ve done since I was seven years old is play tennis. I want to go out there and I want to compete.” He added.
Kyrgios, who will turn 30 next month, has been ranked as high as 13th in the world and has won seven ATP titles so far in his career.
