Kyrgios retires with injury at Indian Wells, unsure what's next - ESPN

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Nick Kyrgios expressed his frustration to reporters on Thursday night and said he was unclear about what was next after he retired from his first-round match at the BNP Paribas Open against Botic Van De Zandschulp.

Kyrgios trailed 7-6 (7), 3-0 when he was forced to retire due to the wrist injury that has sidelined him for much of the past two seasons.

«It's all an experiment at this point,» Kyrgios said. «I was told I was arguably maybe not ever playing tennis again. [But] I feel I'm like right there. I feel like I can compete.

»[Van De Zandschulp] beat [Carlos] Alcaraz at [the 2024] US Open in straight sets, and I've got set points against him in the first set. I'm there, but if I'm not able to finish matches it doesn't really matter at this point. I'm not too sure right now. I don't even… I'm not sure how it's going to pull up tomorrow. It feels relatively pretty sore at the moment. We'll see how it goes."

Kyrgios, a 29-year-old native of Australia, played just one match in 2023 and was absent from the tour for all of the 2024 season because of injuries and surgeries to his wrist and knee. He made his return to competition in Brisbane in January and has yet to win a singles match in three tournaments played, including the Australian Open.

Playing at Indian Wells on a protected ranking, Kyrgios aggravated his wrist at practice on Tuesday, saying he felt a sharp pain nearing the end of his session while hitting a forehand, and his status for his match had been unclear leading in. But he insisted he wanted to play and expressed how much he loved the tournament.

Kyrgios immediately fell into a 4-1 hole in the opening set, but — much to the delight of the crowd at Stadium 1 — fought his way to force a