A tearful Nick Kyrgios was forced to retire from his first-round Indian Wells match with a wrist injury as his tennis return suffered another setback.
The Australian, playing his first match since January’s Australian Open, trailed Botic van de Zandschulp 7-6 (9-7) 3-0 before ending the match early.
Kyrgios became visibly upset when speaking to the trainer about his right wrist, which he had surgery on in September 2023.
The 29-year-old also struggled with knee and foot injuries over an 18-month period before making his return at the start of the year.
“No-one in the sport has had a wrist reconstruction and tried to play after that,” Kyrgios said.
“There’s been players that have had wrist surgeries and nowhere near as bad as what I had.
“It’s all an experiment at this point. I was told I was arguably maybe not ever playing tennis again.
“I feel I’m like right there, I feel like I can compete.”
Kyrgios, runner-up at Wimbledon in 2022, had cut short a practice session earlier in the week after feeling pain in his wrist.
He came back from 4-1 down in the first set against Dutchman Van de Zandschulp and had a set point in the tie-break before he began to physically struggle.
Kyrgios is scheduled to play the Miami Open, which begins on 18 March, but said he would see how his wrist responds before making a decision.
“We go back to the drawing board as a team and we try and figure out a way to get through these matches,” Kyrgios added.
“I would have loved to be able to finish that match, even if I lose, just as a building block.
“But now if I’m not finishing matches that becomes a concern.”
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