INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Nick Kyrgios expressed his frustration to reporters on Thursday night and said he was unclear about what was next after he retired from his first-round match at the BNP Paribas Open against Botic Van De Zandschulp.
Kyrgios trailed 7-6 (7), 3-0 when he was forced to retire due to the wrist injury that has sidelined him for much of the past two seasons.
“It’s all an experiment at this point,” Kyrgios said. “I was told I was arguably maybe not ever playing tennis again. [But] I feel I’m like right there. I feel like I can compete.
“[Van De Zandschulp] beat [Carlos] Alcaraz at [the 2024] 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 don’t even … 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.”
Kyrgios, a 29-year-old native of Australia, played just one match in 2023 and was absent from the tour for all of the 2024 season because of injuries and surgeries to his wrist and knee. He made his return to competition in Brisbane in January and has yet to win a singles match in three tournaments played, including the Australian Open.
Playing at Indian Wells on a protected ranking, Kyrgios aggravated his wrist at practice on Tuesday, saying he felt a sharp pain nearing the end of his session while hitting a forehand, and his status for his match had been unclear leading in. But he insisted he wanted to play and expressed how much he loved the tournament.
Kyrgios immediately fell into a 4-1 hole in the opening set, but — much to the delight of the crowd at Stadium 1 — fought his way to force a tiebreak and showed moments of his signature showmanship and brilliance. But, he said, the pain continued to progress until it simply was too much. He looked near tears as he sat in his chair during a medical timeout before making the decision to retire.
The enigmatic Kyrgios has long been considered one of the most talented players on tour, but despite a career-high ranking of No. 13, seven ATP titles and a 2022 Wimbledon final appearance, he has never quite lived up to the expectations. He said despite the “love/hate relationship” he has had with the sport for much of his career, the surgeries and the setbacks have made him realize how much he wants to play.
“I want to go out there and I want to compete,” Kyrgios said. “When I had the surgery 18 months ago, if I really didn’t want to play, I didn’t have to rehab, I didn’t have to try and get back on the court. I want to play. I knew I was going to be in discomfort tonight after two days ago, but I took the court.”
Kyrgios said it angered him that he wasn’t able to finish the match and said how much he enjoyed play on Thursday.
Kyrgios said he had previously planned on next playing Miami, which gets underway on March 19, but he was unsure if he would be able to.
“Obviously the time frame of Miami is not ideal, but, you know, I was scheduled to play that, so I will see how my wrist responds,” he said. “And if not Miami, I will keep looking forward. I can’t keep looking back and being disappointed. Otherwise I don’t know how much enjoyment I will have in that.”
