Tennis: Nick Kyrgios facing fitness battle with Wimbledon looming after retiring from Queen's

Australia's Nick Kyrgios slipping during his first-round match against Donald Young of the US at the ATP Aegon Championships tennis tournament at Queen's Club in west London on June 19, 2017. PHOTO: AFP
Australia's Nick Kyrgios receiving medical treatment after slipping at 4-4 in his opening match at Queen's Club. He returned to the court and played on in some discomfort but retired after losing the first-set tie-break 3-7. PHOTO: AFP
Donald Young returning to Australia's Nick Kyrgios during their match. The American won the first set in a tie-break before the injured Kyrgios retired. Young plays a Serb next, either Viktor Troicki or Janko Tipsarević. PHOTO: AFP

LONDON (REUTERS) - Nick Kyrgios suffered an injury setback just two weeks before the start of Wimbledon as he was forced to retire during his first-round match at the Queen's Club Championships in London on Monday.

The talented Australian maverick slipped awkwardly on the grass at the back of the court during a rally at 4-4 in the first set against American Donald Young, succumbing again to a recent, problematic hip injury.

After putting his head in his hands and lying on court for a few minutes after the slip, Kyrgios needed a medical time-out.

When he resumed, obviously in some discomfort, he went on to squander two break points before losing the first set 7-3 in a tie-break and then deciding to retire from the contest.

His withdrawal may have just been a precaution with Wimbledon so close, but it was another blow to the 22-year-old, whose hip and shoulder problems forced him to pull out of the Italian Open and blighted his French Open preparations.

"It just was a sharp pain when I fell," Kyrgios told reporters. "I started feeling it when I was walking, when I was landing on my serve. It's exactly what I was feeling in Paris. It's tough to play through.

"It's not great at the moment. But we'll see."

Despite the setback, he expects to play at Wimbledon, which begins on July 3.

"I'd play Wimbledon if I was injured pretty bad anyway," he said. "I'm here anyway. I don't really have time to go home or anything. Yeah, I will be playing, for sure."

Earlier, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had returned emphatically to winning ways at Queen's, putting his shock first-round exit at the French Open firmly behind him.

Tsonga outplayed compatriot Adrian Mannarino 6-2, 6-2 in the opening match of the traditional Wimbledon warmup event in his first match since suffering a four-set defeat by little-known Argentinian Renzo Olivo at Roland Garros.

The loss to the world No. 91 Olivo had been particularly disappointing for Tsonga in light of having won three titles this season during which he also reckoned that becoming a new father had helped provide him with fresh inspiration on court.

Yet even while never needing to find top gear in the sunshine, the two-time Wimbledon semi-finalist demonstrated why he could still be a threat on the grass at 32 as he dismissed the challenge of the man who had beaten him in Monaco in April.

Mannarino, ranked 62 in the world, had started brightly, swapping breaks with Tsonga, but once the world No. 10 found rhythm in his ground strokes and his opponent needed a time-out in the first set for treatment to his back, it proved a straightforward win.

The key game was the marathon eight-deuce sixth in the opening set which finally saw left-hander Mannarino surrender his delivery for a second time after Tsonga had eked out six break points.

A run of seven straight games saw the fifth seed take complete control before he became the first winner in the week-long championships, wrapping up victory in 67 minutes.

"It was a good match. I played pretty well. I had to play my best tennis to get over him," Tsonga said.

"I sweated a lot."

If he can find his best form, Tsonga, who lost to Andy Murray in the 2011 Queen's final, could be one of the major threats to world No. 1 Murray, who is seeking a sixth championship triumph at Queen's.

So will Bulgaria's sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov, on the evidence of his superb 6-3, 6-1 hammering of French Open men's doubles champion Ryan Harrison in just 54 one-sided minutes.

Dimitrov, who has shown signs of rediscovering his 2014 best when he won Queen's, was in imperious form, reducing Harrison to such frustration that the American landed a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct after smashing his racket against his foot in the second set.

Murray opens the defence of his title on Tuesday against fellow Briton Aljaz Bedene.

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