Nick Kyrgios cut a miserable figure as he retired from his first round match while trailing Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-3, 6-4 on No.3 Court.
The No.20 seed, who rated his left hip at 60 per cent on the eve of The Championships, wore a pained expression from the midpoint of the opening set as the injury flared up once more, considerably hampering his movement.
Kyrgios has been plagued by hip problems in the past two months, withdrawing from the Rome Masters on the eve of Roland Garros, where he suffered another flare-up during his second-round loss to Kevin Anderson.
He received intensive work on the problem ahead of the grass court season, but a nasty fall at Queen’s that jolted the joint forced him to retire after losing the first set against Donald Young.
The Australian said at the time he was determined to play at Wimbledon, but it appears the tournament came too soon to make a full recovery. “I knew I was in trouble,” said Kyrgios. “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.
“I spoke to the doctor before the tournament started. He was leaning towards me not even playing. It's my favorite 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.”
Herbert, the world No.70, broke in the eighth game of the opening set before serving out to love, then broke again for a 4-3 lead in the second that proved decisive. With 65 minutes played, Kyrgios called for the trainer before the third set, opting to retire for the second consecutive tour-level match after a short medical assessment, much to his understandable frustration.
“The first set when I played against Donald Young, it was fine,” he said, looking back on his grass court season. “I couldn't feel anything. I was playing great, I was feeling good – then it just all got taken away pretty quickly.
“Take nothing away from him,” Kyrgios added. “He plays great grass court tennis, he serves well. So he's going to do well.”
It is Kyrgios’s earliest exit at Wimbledon in four appearances, but his second Grand Slam retirement in the past 12 months following his withdrawal in the third round of the 2016 US Open, also with a hip injury. Herbert awaits fellow Frenchman Benoit Paire in the second round after he beat Brazil’s Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(10), 6-4.
