Nick Kyrgios, the self-proclaimed bad boy of tennis, crashed out in the first round of the Australian Open and then said he could not see himself playing singles in Melbourne again.

Kyrgios’s straight-sets defeat By British No 3 Jacob Fearnley is unlikely to be quite the end of the road for his singles career, though. “I’ll play the grand slams [this year],” Kyrgios said. “Obviously Wimbledon is a big one for me. Hopefully, if my body’s feeling good, I’ll be able to make some noise at Wimbledon.”

In the lead-up to this match, Andy Roddick, the former world No 1, had suggested that Kyrgios has become a tennis “influencer” who “lived for likes”, rather than a serious contender.

Swear-filled rants forced commentators to apologise four times

Kyrgios had suffered a grade-one tear of his abdominal muscle in the build-up to this event, and he said after his 7-6, 6-3, 7-6 defeat that he would have retired during the match had it not been for the loyal fans who had queued for hours to see him play. Amid the heat of the contest, he came out with one telling admission when he told the physio: “I had it [the strain] before I got here. I don’t know why I f---ing played. It was so dumb.”

He could often be seen holding his side and bending down to lean on his racket between points. Meanwhile, his near-constant stream of swear-filled rants forced the Discovery+ commentators to apologise four times in the opening two sets.

“I knew tonight was going to be tough,” Kyrgios said afterwards. “With my physical state going into the match, I knew that I was going to be really hindered with my serve. But just seeing the fans line up for four, five hours, just the amount of people that were there supporting me, it was hard to kind of throw the towel in. It would have been really easy to kind of just roll over [but] I tried to do the best I could with the state I was in physically. Obviously heartbreaking because I feel like my level’s there.”

‘He has a serve bigger than mine’

Kyrgios’s match was a story of grimaces, physio visits and occasional glimpses of brilliance. There was one point where he tossed in an underarm serve, then hit a ball from behind his own back, and eventually won the rally when Fearnley placed a volley into the net.

In general, though, Kyrgios was unable to turn this contest into the sort of circus he likes to be involved in. While his injury clearly played a part, much credit should also go to Fearnley – the world No 92 from Edinburgh – who was both skilful and imperturbable. Fearnley also served brilliantly, out-acing Kyrgios by a count of 17 to 13, and frustrating him to the point where Kyrgios turned to his player box and yelled: “Great, he has got a serve that is bigger than mine.”

Despite having never won a grand-slam event, Kyrgios is one of the most-followed tennis players on social media, with more than 4.6 million followers across various platforms. He also launched an OnlyFans account in December 2023, leaving him well-poised to develop his “influencer” career once his time on the court is done.

At 29, Kyrgios might seem young to be quitting singles. Doubles is a far more manageable format for players who are physically compromised. But then he said in October that Andy Murray’s near-constant rehabilitation to keep playing tennis was “not worth it” and that he did not want to be “crawling to the finish line”.

Fearnley: The best match I’ve ever played

Fearnley showed enormous composure as he closed out a straight-sets victory on his Australian Open debut, then admitted that it had been “difficult” to maintain composure against the outspoken Kyrgios.

Having been a high-ranking junior player, Fearnley attended college at Texas Christian University rather than turn professional immediately, only doing so after he graduated in April.

Since then, Fearnley has won a maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Nottingham, earned a wildcard for last season’s Wimbledon, and broken into the world’s top 100 to qualify for the Australian Open. It has been a meteoric rise.

There will not be many more hostile environments in which to make a bow than against the home favourite, with loud cheers greeting every ball that Fearnley missed in the closely contested third set.

Afterwards, Fearnley said that this was “definitely the best match” he had ever played. “Obviously I was extremely nervous before the match,” he said on court. “I didn’t get too much sleep, I knew it was going to be a rowdy match, but I thought I played good.

“Sorry for Nick, I could tell he was dealing with some stuff, but I thought it was a great match.”

Draper taken to five sets

Jack Draper, the British No 1, battled against the heat in a five-set contest to avoid a surprise loss to unseeded Argentine Mariano Navone.

In a match that lasted more than four hours, Draper had to come back from a set down, and save break points in the fourth set, in order to seal his place in the second round. In his first match since October, Draper’s usually reliable serve was broken five times as he produced 88 unforced errors during his 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

“Wasn’t pretty at all,” said Draper, who has been dealing with a hip problem for several weeks. “Was nowhere near my best. Sometimes it’s about showing some heart. I’m really, really proud of that today. I think that’s a big win.”

Earlier, Jodie Burrage had been brought to tears when she claimed her first win in the main draw of the Australian Open, having considered quitting the sport just months ago.

After missing six months of last season through injury, 25-year-old Burrage beat French qualifier Leolia Jeanjean 6-2, 6-4 to set up a meeting with Coco Gauff in the second round.

Harriet Dart, who received lucky loser status following an injury withdrawal, was forced to dig deep to stay in the competition against Jana Fett in a match that lasted over three hours.

The British No 4 eventually claimed the win 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 after a match that included 19 breaks of serve. She limped her way off the court, explaining later: “I was just cramping, I think. Just fatigue and a combination of things.”