Kyrgios: “Realistically I can’t see myself playing singles again here”

Nick Kyrgios at the Australian Open was one of the major attractions of the first Grand Slam of the 2025 season. Unfortunately, the Australian was a shadow of his former self in Melbourne on Monday. Hampered by an abdominal injury, the 29-year-old could do nothing against Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley (7-6, 6-3, 7-6).

Although Kyrgios set the record for the fastest serve, recorded at 213 km/h, the Australian was severely hampered in this area of the game. His average speed on the first serve was 185 km/h, well below his usual standards and notably lower than his opponent (192 km/h), who is not known for being a great server.

After a wrist operation that kept him off the courts for almost two years, Kyrgios is far from 100% in terms of his physicality and his return to competition has resulted in a new injury, this time to his abdominal muscles – all of which has frustrated him, who nonetheless made the most of the atmosphere at the John Cain Arena for what was perhaps his last singles match at the Australian Open.

“Realistically I can’t really see myself probably playing singles again here, so…” he said to reporters afterwards.

“Yeah, it was special. Like, taking that in, it was pretty good. It was good, yeah.

“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. The fans waited hours to come see me play.”

Kyrgios’ physical and mental suffering

After making an initial comeback in 2023 on the grass of Stuttgart, Kyrgios was forced to stop competing again until August 2024, when he took part in UTS New York. But the Australian’s wrist didn’t hold up and he withdrew from the semi-finals.

The 29-year-old has just played in two tournaments in early 2025, Brisbane and the Australian Open, but each time he was hampered by pain, with a wrist problem against Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard and now an abdominal problem against Fearnley – a situation that weighs on him mentally.

“It’s just not enjoyable for me. It’s not enjoyable for me to go out there and not think tactically, enjoying the atmosphere, 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.

“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 — I’m not a threat to many players.”

He added: ” I’ll play the Grand Slams. I’ve got my protected ranking. Obviously Wimbledon is a big one for me. I still feel like obviously, if I don’t have an abdominal strain, I feel when I sustained that five days before a Grand Slam, it’s not ideal. Hopefully, if my body’s feeling good, I’ll be able to make some noise at Wimbledon.”

In addition to the Davis Cup at the beginning of February, the Australian is also scheduled to take part in UTS Guadalajara from 14 to 16 February 2025.

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