Photo Source: TTV
Indian Wells, California – Nick Kyrgios can’t seem to put his wrist injury behind him.
The Aussie bowed out of Indian Wells on Thursday night, missing out on a chance to capture his first tour-level win since the fall of 2022 when he retired due to injury while trailing Botic van de Zandschulp, 7-6(7), 3-0 RET.
It was widely known that Kyrgios had been feeling pain in his wrist during the leadup to the BNP Paribas Open, but he gave it a shot nevertheless, and couldn’t make it through.
“I wasn't too confident that I was going to be able to play today, to be honest,” he later told reporters. “Two days ago in practice I had to stop my practice because I felt pain in my wrist. I felt like it was okay to take the court. Just got progressively worse. Started feeling sharp pain in my wrist.”
Kyrgios was emotional in his chair before he headed off the court. He clearly wanted to put his best foot forward here in the California desert, at a tournament that he enjoys very much.
A two-time quarterfinalist at Indian Wells, Kyrgios drops to 7-5 lifetime at the event.
In 2017 he scored one of his two wins over 24-time major champion to reach his first quarterfinal at the event.
“I'm okay to lose a match. I've lost matches in my career many times,” he said. “I guess it's just the amount of work I put in and I'm still having so much discomfort in my wrist. That's I guess why I got a bit emotional towards the end because it's one of my favorite tournaments.
"Even after the Australian Open I wasn't sure what I was going to play next, but this was always probably going to be one of the tournaments I'm going to play regardless. I love it here. I've had so many good memories here. It's one of the best tournaments we have.”
Kyrgios had a set point in the opening set against the Dutchman, but couldn’t convert. He lost heart not long after, the struggle becoming too difficult.
“This guy beat Alcaraz at US Open in straight sets, and I've got set points against him in the first set. I'm there, but if I'm not able to finish matches it doesn't really matter at this point. I'm not too sure right now. I'm not sure how it's going to pull up tomorrow. It feels relatively pretty sore at the moment. We'll see how it goes.”
It isn’t clear what Kyrgios will do next, but he made it obvious that he really wants to continue with his career.
“It sucks, because I do enjoy, as much as I have had a love/hate relationship with this sport, and it makes me fucking angry – sorry – I want to play,” he said. “I had glimpses of it tonight with the crowd going absolutely ballistic, and I'm playing amazing and I'm enjoying being out there. The pain, it's just not great.”