NICK’S TORMENT
Injury-hit Kyrgios only lasts an hour
Nick kyrgios arrived wearing white long johns and with tramlines freshly cut into his shaven hair, ready to make a statement.
His Wimbledon lasted just 65 minutes, though, and inside his complex mind the game seemed up long before that.
A cursory few minutes with the doctor after he had handed his unseeded French opponent the first two sets confirmed that the left hip injury which had led to withdrawal from Queen’s after one set would bring this tournament to a close. it was crash and burn, kyrgios style.
The Australian’s discussion of his abbreviated court 3 encounter with Pierre- Hugues Herbert included a grenade or two. Asked if he had discussed persistent hip trouble with compatriot Bernard Tomic, who has been through double hip surgery, he scoffed. ‘i don’t talk to Bernie too much.’
Eventually, some candour was dragged out of him. ‘i’m obviously a little bit scared but i don’t think i need surgery at the moment,’ he said before leaving the room.
The 22-year-old would have been making inroads into the space occupied by the top four of men’s tennis months ago were it not for the mental fragility which makes so many of his appearances a journey into the deepest recesses of his mind. Why, kyrgios was asked, could this injury have assailed him when he had looked so cheerful after comfortably beating the german Philipp kohlschreiber 6-4, 6-4 in a match last week?
‘i don’t think i can feel too good about an exhibition match at Boodles and i don’t think Phil was going too good,’ he replied. That, incidentally, was the win which left kyrgios saying of Wimbledon: ‘i honestly do think i can win it. Might need a bit of luck — and everything to fall into place — but i do believe i can win.’
This man of many masks has been larger than life in sW19 for fully three weeks, decked out in the new Tottenham Hotspur home shirt only last week.
The truth is that nobody can be sure which kyrgios will materialise. The solitary glimpse of the talent which makes him such a draw arrived in this match’s fourth game, when his displeasure at a line call on his first service led him to ace the second at a cool 134mph.
it was as good as it got because the grumbling and grimacing began soon afterwards. The four- letter word he used to describe himself as the first set got away is unprintable here.
‘get him to a tie-break,’ kyrgios implored himself at one stage, which was about as much positivity as he could conjure.
When the 26-year- old Herbert, ranked 70 in the world, briefly stopped to resolve a racket problem, kyrgios provided some entertainment by playing a golf putt with his racket. Within five minutes he was double-faulting twice in one service game to gift his opponent the first-set break at 5-3, which he seized on by serving out to love.
kyrgios’s movement did seem restricted in the second set, though behind the frustrations there seemed minimal capacity to play through the pain.
He barely reacted to two 120mph serves in the fourth game of the second set. Nor in the fifth game for a lob and then a drop shot — a deadly weapon in the deft hands of Herbert, who successfully used it five times.
The kyrgios camp did what they could to keep their man going, but even their shouts of encouragement had been extinguished by the time he netted a tame volley to give Herbert the secondset break at 5-3. The Australian ‘ Fanatics’ in the crowd were subdued.
‘get an Mri tonight, get rehab, get healthy,’ said kyrgios when asked what happens next. The men’s game must wait a little longer to discover if this individual’s extraordinary natural talent can translate into success, under the significant influence of fellow Australian Lleyton Hewitt, with whom he has become close.
The sport needs it to be so. A light has gone out of this men’s singles tournament barely before it has begun.