Nick’s bad hip may trip his Open plans
French campaign under a cloud
NICK Kyrgios is having daily rehabilitation on his troublesome hip as doubts continue to swirl around the Australian spearhead’s French Open campaign.
Scheduled to face German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber tonight, Kyrgios says he is “in a tough period.”
The Australian No. 1 plans to lay a decent Wimbledon foundation over the next week but is uncertain how his left hip will hold up under grand slam strain.
“I’m ready to play but obviously my body is giving me a hard time,” he said.
“It feels OK. I think I’ve done everything I can for it, obviously.
“Nothing like cortisone at this stage but I’m getting treatment, rehab – doing all the right things for it.
“We’ll see how it goes. I’m watching how much I’m practising and all that stuff.
“A lot of treatment and exercises around it to keep it pretty loose.
“Doing rehab every day, which is something I don’t normally do, but I’ve been doing half an hour rehab on it every day.”
Kyrgios was bothered with hip soreness at the US Open last year, admitting he needs to play a sparse schedule to protect his light frame.
There are fears the righthander could be suffering a similar issue to that which forced Bernard Tomic to have both hips operated on.
“I think you can get rid of it ( soreness),” he said.
“It probably needs some rest and then I can sort of build up again and that’s how its ( soreness) going to get away.
“But at this stage, it’s a tough period, obviously haven’t had much rest.
“I took Rome off but I had tournaments to get ready for so it’s obviously not the right rest that it needs.
“We’ll see after this week how it pulls up and obviously my main focus is Wimbledon.”
Kyrgios is determined to play the French, but opted out of the Rome Masters on medical advice.
The 22- year- old has also struggled with shoulder pain but says it is a minor issue.
The two- time grand slam quarter- finalist insists he best chance of a grand slam breakthrough is at Wimbledon.
“The grass suits my game the most and I enjoy London and I enjoy playing there,” he said.
“I think grass is my best chance.”
Kyrgios, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Jordan Thompson and Ash Barty are scheduled to play tonight.
Sam Stosur, Jaimee Fourlis, Daria Gavrilova, Ajla Tomljanovic and John Millman were slated to start last night.
Bernard Tomic and Alex de Minaur bowed out in the first round yesterday.