Nick Kyrgios broke down in his return to play in California after hurting his surgically repaired wrist in practice

The playing future of Nick Kyrgios looks grim after a sad end to his return to the court in California.

Nick Kyrgios broke down in tears as the “reality” of trying to climb back to the top of the tennis mountain with a surgically repaired wrist set in after he was forced to retire hurt in his playing return in California.

Playing for the first time since an opening round exit at the Australian Open in January, Kyrgios was 3-0 down in the second set at Indian Wells before an emotional decision to quit having hurt his wrist again in practice before the tournament.

Nick Kyrgios shows his dejection after having to retire (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

It came after a valiant opening set effort against Dutch world no.86 Botic van de Zandschulp, playing with wrist heavily strapped, earning a set-point having fought back from being 4-1 down in the opening 25 minutes.

Kyrgios dropped his second and third services game and things looked ugly for the former Wimbledon finalist.

But he rallied to 4-4, then went up 5-4 as his powerful serve started to kick in and his movement around the court improved.

The first set went to a tiebreaker, and to 6-6 as Kyrgios tried to impose some power on his opponent. He had a set-point, but lost it, before his van de Zandschulp won the next two points, and the set, 9-7 in the tiebreaker.

Down 3-0 in the second set, having flexed his wrist consistently, Kyrgios called for a medical time out, only to realise he couldn’t go on.

Difficult scenes 💔

An emotional @NickKyrgios is forced to retire 7-6 3-0 down to Van de Zandschulp due to wrist pain#TennisParadisepic.twitter.com/wWL9ESesIY

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 7, 2025

The 29 year-old, who missed a Davis Cup return in January after hurting himself at Melbourne Park, had been hopeful before the event but detailed how he was putting less pressure on himself knowing how hard recovering from the surgery on his wrist would be.

“There was a time I was a contender at all these events and after the surgeries I’ve had, especially on my right wrist, it’s not fair to put those expectations on me,” he said before his opening match.

“I still feel like I want to win matches and make some noise, but now I really understand the amount of work which just goes into getting to the start line.

“Especially when you look at some of the payers who have had wrist surgery .. it takes time to get back to the he level and you may not ever get there.

“I understand the challenge that as in front of me, it’s almost a bit tougher now because I see the reality of how my wrist is.”

Nick Kyrgios is surrounded by medical personnel (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Kyrgios said hurting himself in practice didn’t help his cause.

“I practiced for an hour and this second last point felt my wrist a little bit,” he said.

“It seems to be that point where I can’t really catch a break with my body but these are just things you have to navigate .. this is the challenge in front of me.”

It’s unclear when Kyrgios will play again.

“I’ve definitely still got a bit of tennis to play,” he said.

“But I think my media career will be taking off. “

Originally published as Nick Kyrgios broke down in his return to play in California after hurting his surgically repaired wrist in practice