Nick Kyrgios did not shy away from his disappointment for having to retire from his third round Wimbledon match against Felix Auger-Alliassime on Saturday.
“I’m enjoying myself. Going from the bad boy of tennis, to now one of the crowd favourites. I knew they wanted me to keep playing. I tried to give everything I absolutely could.
“But I knew the more I served, the worse it was getting. It was heartbreaking for me,” he said during a post match interview stating “devastated” for the forced exit.
Kyrgios had an impressive start in the match breaking the Canadian 16th seed in the first set.
But towards the end of it, he called the trainer and had a medical time out because of abdominal pain.
Despite treatment, the condition did not show signs of improvement, evidenced in his famous serve speed reducing irreversibly to half-pace.
Eventually, at the end of the second set after another chat with the trainer, Kyrgios walked to Auger-Alliassime and retired from the match.
The abdominal injury exit from the tournament cut the 26-year-old’s comeback in competitive tennis short, following a five-month absence.
His opponent wished him well for his recovery, with Kyrgios taking in turn to social media to wish Auger-Aliassime best of luck for the remainder of the tournament, making a reported feud with the Canadian thing of the past.
The Aussie Maverick drew attention this week after saying it was uncertain he could go to the Tokyo Olympics despite been included in the Australian squad.
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