Nick Kyrgios drops retirement bombshell following first round loss at the Australian Open

Nick Kyrgios has dropped a bombshell on the second night of the Australian Open, pulling the pin on his singles career at Melbourne Park due to injury.

A gutted Nick Kyrgios says it’s unlikely he will ever play another singles match at the Australian Open.

The Aussie star dropped the bombshell after losing his opening round match to Britain’s Jacob Fearnley - 7-6 (3) 6-3 7-6 (2) - where he was being badly restricted by an abdominal strain which he’d suffered on the eve of the tournament.

While he left the door open to play doubles at Melbourne Park next year, the 29-year-old doesn’t believe his body will allow him to be competitive in singles in 12 months time.

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Kyrgios is aiming to play singles in the three remaining grand slams this year and believes he still has the ability to make some noise at Wimbledon where he was a finalist in 2022.

Nick Kyrgios walks off in his last singles game at Melbourne Park. Picture: Michael Klein

But he conceded the only reason he didn’t retire early in the first-round match when the injury flared was because of the fans who’d waited up to four hours to get seats inside John Cain Arena.

“I mean, realistically I can’t really see myself, probably playing singles again here,” Kyrgios said.

“(The crowd) was special, I was like taking that in, it was pretty good. I mean, look, I knew that I have doubles, so I kind of was taking everything in tonight in those moments. It was nuts.

“I didn’t want to just throw in the towel and walk off or retire. I was hurting physically. I respect my opponent and the fans waited hours to come see me play.”

Krygios hadn’t played a grand slam match since the 2022 US Open and was clearly frustrated about his body continuing to let him down - this time the abdominal strain coming five days before his comeback at Melbourne Park.

Nick Kyrgios played injured on Monday night. Picture: Kelly Defina/Getty Images.

He said the hollow feeling he felt during the match against Fearnley because of his injury was the reason for his singles retirement prediction.

“My wrist surgery was 16 months ago, so I’ve put in a lot of work. I think it was, like, I didn’t play a Grand Slam for 800-something days, 859 days or something.

“I continued to stay motivated through all those days when I was watching everyone else play, I was on the couch like in a cast. I stayed motivated.

“I trained. I was in the gym. I’m in good shape. All the niggles I guess, my body compensating with the wrist, it’s tough. It’s just not enjoyable for me. It’s not enjoyable for me to go out there and not think tactically, enjoying the atmosphere or where am I going to hit the ball?

“It’s like what am I doing to manage my body, this is painful, I can’t do this because this hurts. That’s not tennis to me. That’s not sport.

Australia's Nick Kyrgios is attended to by physios on John Cain Arena. Picture: William West.AFP.

“I’m happy to play through a bit of discomfort. When it gets to a point of . . . I’m one of the biggest servers on tour and I’m getting outserved tonight. My average serve speed was beneath 200. I mean, Nick Kyrgios without his serve is probably not a threat to many players.”

Kyrgios confirmed he was still planning on playing doubles with his good mate Thanasi Kokkinakis - the pair won the Australian Open title in 2022.

“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,” he said.

“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.

“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.”

KYRGIOS COMEBACK CRUMBLES AFTER GAMBLE WITH INJURY

Nick Kyrgios rolled the dice and lost.

The Australian’s much-anticipated return after two years away from the game was cruelled by an abdominal injury which quickly raised its head early in the first-round match against rising British star Jacob Fearnley.

It was obvious by midway through the opening set that there were going to be plenty of hurdles in the way of the fairytale comeback at the Australian Open with Kyrgios clearly struggling on serve because of the discomfort.

Even with his legion of fans on John Cain Arena screaming for a miracle and despite some exciting moments in the third set, it wasn’t to be with Fearnley delivering a clinical display to win 7-6 (3) 6-3 7-6 (2) in 2hr 19min.

Britain's Jacob Fearnley celebrates as he beats Australia's Nick Kyrgios in their men's singles match. Picture: William West/AFP.

“I was extremely nervous,” Fearnley said. “I knew going in it was going to be a rowdy match. I’m sorry for Nick as I could tell he was dealing with some stuff.”

Kyrgios suffered the abdominal strain in Brisbane just under a fortnight ago which forced him to have a restricted preparation in the days leading up to his first grand slam match since the 2022 US Open.

Given his long absence from the game and then the late injury, the odds were stacked against him and the first sign of trouble came in the seventh game of the opening set when Kyrgios found himself down two break points.

Australia's Nick Kyrgios puts his head in his hands during the round one match. Picture: William West/AFP.

A couple of booming serves got him out of trouble but the amount of grimacing as he felt for the stomach muscles on his left side had alarm bells ringing around John Cain Arena.

At the change of ends leading 4-3 Kyrgios made his feelings known to his entourage saying: “I can’t serve. What do you want me to do?”

While he battled on to push the opening set to a tie-break, it was obvious the injury was continuing to be a problem with the volatile hometown hero sending a barrage of swear words towards his coaches’ box.

The problem for Kyrgios is that while he was dealing with his physical issue, Fearnley had brought his A-game and wasn’t missing anything.

In the tie-break he went up a level, taking the advantage early and racing away with the first set in 46 minutes.

There was more grumbling and sledges delivered towards his team early in the second set as the Scotsman continued to play exhilarating tennis and he quickly got the break to lead 3-0.

Then at the 1-4 down Kyrgios called for the trainer who rubbed lotion on the troubled abdominal area.

Jacob Fearnley is all business on JCA!

The Brit kept his nerve to jag the first, before breaking early to nab the second.

He leads 7-6(3) 6-3@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2025pic.twitter.com/AZiOKaYp8i

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 13, 2025

In the Channel 9 commentary box Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt revealed the former Wimbledon finalist had barely served in the days leading up to his return.

“He’s been practising all week out of the hand, just doing groundstrokes and volleys,” Hewitt said. “He only rolled over a few serves yesterday for the first time.”

While Kyrgois was battling his body, Fearnley, the world No. 86, was playing the game of his life and he cruised through the second set 6-3 in just 33 minutes.

Nick Kyrgios grimaces in pain during his match. Picture: Michael Klein

The 23-year-old raised eyebrows last year when in his grand slam debut he took a set off the great Novak Djokovic in the second round at Wimbledon.

He’d cancelled his Instagram account in the lead-up to his clash with Kyrgios in a bid to shut-out the noise about taking on the volatile Aussie.

The move worked as he showed no signs of melting under the spotlight, instead he was ice cold as he methodically took advantage of an ailing Kyrgios.

But as is often the way with anything to do with Kyrgios, things don’t usually go according to script.

After failing a break down early in the third set the Australian found something, broke back to make it 3-3 and then had a set point on Fearnley’s serve leading 5-4.

Unfortunately he wasn’t able to capitalise and it was the same scenario in the tie-break which went the Brits way 7-2 to seal the biggest win of his career.

Originally published as Nick Kyrgios drops retirement bombshell following first round loss at the Australian Open