Nick Kyrgios admitted he may have played his last singles match at the Australian Open after losing to Great Britain’s Jacob Fearnley in the opening round.

The Australian, 29, struggled with an abdominal injury as he made his long-awaited return to the tournament after almost 18 months on his sidelines.

But the former Wimbledon finalist was beaten in straight-sets by the Australian Open debutant Fearnley, who subdued a raucous crowd on the John Cain Arena.

Kyrgios and his powerful serve were hampered by his injury but he said he did not want to quit as he does not know if he will be back playing singles again.

“I mean, realistically I can’t really see myself probably playing singles again here,” Kyrgios told reporters after the defeat.

“It was special. Look, I knew that I have doubles, so I kind of was taking everything in tonight in those moments. It was nuts.

“I didn’t want to just throw in the towel and walk off or retire. I was hurting physically.  I respect my opponent. The fans waited hours to come see me play.

“Realistically I can’t see myself playing a singles match here again.”

Kyrgios remains in the doubles with Australian favourite Thanasi Kokkinakis, who he won the title alongside in 2022. He said he is aiming to play at the remaining grand slams this season under his protected ranking.

“Obviously Wimbledon is a big one for me,” he said. “I still feel like obviously, if I don’t have an abdominal strain, I feel when I sustained that five days before a grand slam, it’s not ideal.

“Hopefully, if my body’s feeling good, I’ll be able to make some noise at Wimbledon Right now the doubles, I’ll rest. Yeah, it’s just disappointing because I put in so much work.”

Kyrgios had to cancel an exhibition match before the tournament after picking up the injury and said it was on his mind before facing Fearnley in the opening round.

“I knew tonight was going to be tough. With mu 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.

“Would have been really easy to kind of just roll over. I tried to do the best I could with the state I was in physically. Obviously heartbreaking because, yeah, I obviously wanted to play well. I feel like my level’s there.”