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 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.’
More to follow…
