Nick Kyrgios believes he has played his final singles match at the Australian Open, but plans to finish the 2025 season.
The enigmatic Aussie star played through an abdominal strain, suffered days before the grand slam, in his first-round loss to Brit Jacob Fearnley.
But he conceded in his post-match press conference he only battled through the “heartbreaking straight-sets loss because of the support he received from the Aussie fans, not wanting to let the packed crowd on John Cain Arena down.
Still, the 29-year-old – who lost the last two years of his career through injury – feels another full grand slam campaign in Australia is too much to ask of his body.
I didn’t want to just throw in the towel and walk off or retire. I was hurting physically. I respect my opponent. The fans waited hours to come see me play, Kyrgios said.
Yeah I mean, realistically I can’t see myself playing a singles match here again.
“Honestly, the reason I kept playing, tried to play tonight, was because of the fans. As I said, I don’t know how many times I’m going to be back here again. That’s why I didn’t have headphones on, I wasn’t listening to music. I walked out there today, wanted to hear the crowd. There were some special moments.
He continued: “I didn’t think I was going to be back here anyway playing. I didn’t get a wild card. I’m here because I feel like I deserve to be here.
“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. 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.”
Kyrgios backed his rehab work and believes while he’s still fit enough to play, his injury niggles have gotten to the point where his game has dropped off enough that in his current condition, he cannot compete.
“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.
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