Injury cuts short Kyrgios’s Wimbledon campaign

Injury has cruelled Nick Kyrgios’s 2017 campaign, forcing the Aussie to retire from his first-round match on Monday.

The No.20 seed was trailing Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3 6-4 when he called for the trainer to examine his troublesome hip.

After a short consultation and some perfunctory treatment, he made the decision he couldn’t continue.

“I kind of knew I was in trouble. I have been feeling my hip ever since I fell over at Queen’s. Never got it right. I was doing everything I could to help it, but just not enough time,” Kyrgios explained.

“Nothing (to) take away from him. He plays great grass court tennis. He serves well. So he’s going to do well.”

Herbert was well aware of the physical struggles of the Aussie, who’d declared himself just 60-65 per cent fit on the eve of the tournament.

And although Kyrgios’s patented serve kept him in touch, as soon as Herbert had time to set up and get Kyrgios on the run, the 22-year-old was in trouble.

Herbert frequently drop-shotted and drop-volleyed Kyrgios and kept him guessing on the return with powerful serves of his own.

He progressed after just an hour on court, and will next meet either Rogerio Dutra Silva or fellow Frenchman Benoit Paire.

Kyrgios was visibly disappointed in his post-match press conference, especially so given he’d worked hard to get his hip issues under control after Roland Garros.

He said he would avoid surgery if he could help it, and would instead get an MRI tomorrow and focus once again on rehabbing the injury.

“I spoke to the doctor before the tournament started. He was leaning towards me not even playing,” Kyrgios said.

“It’s my favourite tournament. I do well here every year. So it’s tough for me to go out there and get beaten and pull out. It’s not the easiest thing for me to do.

“I had it (right) after French Open. I did the right things. I took 10 days off, got an injection, rehabbed, it was fine. When I initially got on the grass, I wasn’t feeling my hip at all.

“(Then) I fell over at Queen’s. I can hardly do anything about it.

“I was playing great. I was feeling good. Then it just all got taken away pretty quickly.”

Meanwhile, Herbert’s section of the draw has a distinctly French flavour now – should he meet Paire in round two, the winner would likely advance to a third-round meeting with 14th seed Lucas Pouille, also of France and a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon last year.