Nick Kyrgios has been left crestfallen after a fresh knee injury forced him to abandon his planned return to action at the French Open, leaving more question marks over the luckless former Wimbledon finalist’s future in the sport.
Jordan Thompson, who had been set to play alongside his Australian compatriot in his firstFrench Openfor eight years, revealed the extent of his friend’s misery with Kyrgios telling him he did not know how much more he could take after his latest setback.
“Nick was really pumped to play here. He kept messaging me every week, ‘you good to go for dubs [doubles] at Roland Garros’,” said Thompson, who had been struggling with a litany of injuries himself.
“I know he was back home in Australia training on clay, but a few days ago, Nick told me that he’s done something to his knee, so unfortunately, he just couldn’t be here. He was pretty down. He told me he doesn’t know how much more of these injuries he can take, and you’ve just got to feel for him.
“Because as much as he says things in the media, I think he loves playing tennis and he loves being on court, so it’s disappointing that he can’t be here on the court.”
The former Wimbledon finalist Kyrgios, whose recent career has become a stop-start affair riddled with injury concerns, had declared only a couple of weeks ago that he would reunite with Thompson, whose regular doubles partner Max Purcell is serving a ban for infringing doping regulations.
The pair had played as juniors, finishing runners-up in the 2012 US Open.
But when the draw was announced on Monday, it was confirmed Thompson would line up instead alongside fellow Australian Jason Kubler for a first-round match on Tuesday against French pair Quentin Halys and Albano Olivetti.
Sign up toAustralia Sport
Get a daily roundup of the latest sports news, features and comment from our Australian sports desk
after newsletter promotion
Kyrgios will be at Roland Garros, where he last competed in 2017 while reaching the second round, but only off-court as a TV commentator, as he increasingly turns his attention to media opportunities with time seemingly running out to resurrect his career at the age of 30.
“Yeah. I’m hoping that he can play, but it just depends on how his knee is,” said Thompson.
Kyrgios, who has been plagued by knee and foot injuries and had reconstructive surgery on his wrist, thought there was some light at the end of the tunnel when he won his first singles match for two-and-a-half years against American Mackenzie McDonald in Miami in March.
On day two of play at Roland Garros, Alja Tomljanovic outplayed the new teenage Morocco Open champion Maya Joint 6-1, 6-3, while Alexei Popyrin ended his French Open drought and Daria Kasatkina savoured her first grand slam win under the Australian flag.
But with nine Australians in action on a manic day in Paris, there were inevitably casualties littered around the perennial red tennis graveyard with Aleksandar Vukic, Chris O’Connell, Daria Saville, Kim Birrell and a battered Jordan Thompson all succumbing. Alex de Minaur makes his bow on Tuesday.