Wimbledon 2017: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Madison Keys win openers; Nick Kyrgios retires with hip injury

Wimbledon 2017: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Madison Keys win openers; Nick Kyrgios retires with hip injury

Nick Kyrgios suffered more injury woe as the Australian was forced to retire from his Wimbledon first round match against Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Monday.

Advertisement
Wimbledon 2017: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Madison Keys win openers; Nick Kyrgios retires with hip injury

London: Nick Kyrgios suffered more injury woe as the Australian was forced to retire from his Wimbledon first round match against Pierre-Hugues Herbert on Monday.

Kyrgios admitted last week he would go into Wimbledon only “60-65 percent” fit as he struggled to recover from the left hip injury that forced him to pull out of Queen’s Club last month.

Advertisement
Nick Kyrgios was forced to retire against Pierre-Hugues Herbert at Wimbledon due to his hip injury. AP

The 22-year-old had reached at least the fourth round in all three of his previous Wimbledon appearances.

But after losing in the second round at both the Australian and French Opens this year, Kyrgios’s miserable 2017 continued as the world number 20 lost the first two sets 6-3, 6-4 against Herbert before deciding to call it quits due to the nagging injury.

Herbert will face France’s Benoit Paire or Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva in the second round.

From the moment he stepped onto Court Three wearing long white leggings under his shorts, Kyrgios didn’t look comfortable and he spent most of the first set trying to flex and stretch his leg.

A Kyrgios double fault in the eighth game gave Herbert the break that gifted him the opening set.

Advertisement

Kyrgios, then ranked 144th, burst onto the scene at Wimbledon in 2014 when he defeated then world number one Rafael Nadal en route to the quarter-finals.

With the injury impeding his movement, there was no sign of that brilliance against Herbert and when the 70th-ranked Frenchman took the second set, Kyrgios called for treatment.

Advertisement

He spent several minutes speaking to the doctor before telling Herbert he was going to have to retire.

Madison Keys won her opening match at Wimbledon, beating Nao Hibino of Japan 6-4, 6-2.

The 17th-seeded American reached the quarterfinals at the All England Club in 2015 and the fourth round last year.

Twice Wimbledon semi-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga breezed into the second round on Monday with a 6-3 6-2 6-2 victory over British wildcard Cameron Norrie, whose first Grand Slam appearance ended in a swift and painful exit.

Advertisement

Tsonga, the 12th seed, was dumped out in the second round last year but was never forced out of second gear as he swatted Norrie aside on Court Two.

The Frenchman began in his usual languid fashion before cranking up the pressure to break twice and take the first set against the South African-born Norrie, who has only recorded one tour-level victory.

Advertisement

While Norrie had weapons, principally a decent serve and a whip-crack forehand, they were all too often firing off target, allowing Tsonga to move through the gears at key moments.

The match became increasingly one-sided in the second set as Norrie double-faulted to hand Tsonga a break in the sixth game before tamely netting a backhand to fall two sets behind.

Advertisement

Tsonga broke twice again in the third set to wrap up victory in one hour and 23 minutes.

With inputs from agencies

Latest News

Find us on YouTube

Subscribe

Top Shows

Vantage First Sports Fast and Factual Between The Lines