Tennis’ badboy hobbled away from another tournament.
Australian Nick Kyrgios was forced to retire from his first-round match due to injury at Wimbledon after losing the first two sets in 58 minutes to Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
The 20th-seeded Australian was trailing Herbert 6-3, 6-4 when he called for a trainer to work on his left hip, an injury that has plagued Kyrgios since last year.
“I kind of knew I was in trouble. Me feeling my hip ever since I fell over at Queen’s, I never really got right,” Kyrgios said after the flameout. “I was doing everything I could to help it, but obviously just not enough time. I mean, I just wasn’t 100 percent. Not to take anything away from [Pierre-Hugues], he plays great grass court tennis, he serves well. He’s going to do well.”
The nagging hip injury has cursed Kyrgios since the end of 2016. The 22-year-old was forced to withdraw from the Italian Open right before the French Open in May with a hip injury, and ahead of Wimbledon, he retired from his first-round match at Queen’s Club after he slipped on the grass last week, which aggravated the same injury.
Kyrgios admitted he was “60-65” percent fit heading into Wimbledon, but said he was taking anti-inflammatories and rehabbing every day to treat the injury.
Kyrgios’ retirement marks the first time that the 22-year-old failed to make it past the first round at the All English Club.
With AP