KYRGIOS A SORE LOSER
Australian eyes extended injury break
NICK KYRGIOS says he is considering taking the rest of the year off to allow his shoulder to recover after crashing to a 7-6, 6-1 defeat to Andreas Seppi at the Zhuhai Championships.
The Australian withdrew from the final day of the Laver Cup in Geneva before heading to China, where he started brightly against the world No74 to immediately go a break up.
Towards the end of the first set, though, Kyrgios began squeezing his right shoulder. It marked the start of something of a capitulation.
“I’m not even too sure what I’m going to do moving forward with the rest of my season,” Kyrgios said.
“I’m going to have to talk to my team and see what’s best.At this stage it doesn’t look great.
“There’s no point for me to play if I can’t really serve, because serving is my strength. I’m probably not going to bother playing until the front of my shoulder is better and I can serve.”
He says he may now focus instead on next year’sAustralian Open, aside from one last piece of 2019 business.
“Obviously I want to play Davis Cup toward the end of the year,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of time before then. I can rest, recover, get my shoulder right.”
Kyrgios was adamant it was the physical injury rather than a lack of focus that led to his shock defeat – although he did admit to some travel weariness. “Man, I haven’t been home in almost seven months,” he added. “So maybe this is a blessing in disguise.”
British No3 Cameron Norrie soon followed Kyrgios out of the tournament after a valiant attempt to claim his biggest scalp since beating world No10 John Isner 16 months ago.
The 24-year-old took the first set against Gael Monfils, currently 12th in the rankings, but could not get any more change out of the Frenchman, who fought all the way to a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
It leaves Andy Murray as the last Briton in the singles in Zhuhai – and already the sharks are circling.Well, one baby one.
Murray’s opponent today, Alex de Minaur, will be a step up, having made it into the world’s top 25 by the age of 20.
But the normally serious Australian appears in relaxed mood, interrupting preparation to post a video on his Instagram account of him dancing to children’s hit Baby Shark.