By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Inactivity has robbed Nick Kyrgios of connectivity to competition.
Tonight, Mackenzie McDonald separated Kyrgios from his Washington, DC title.
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Playing clean combinations the 107th-ranked McDonald saved all five break points he faced defeating defending Citi Open champion Kyrgios 6-4, 6-4.
It was Kyrgios' first opening-round exit in four tournaments as he fell to 7-5 on the season. Afterward, Kyrgios said the lack of match play has dulled the urgency in his game.
"I'm not feeling the severity of certain points, and I don't feel the pressure as much as obviously playing week in, week out," Kyrgios said. "You feel when you kind of have to press, when you kind of have to relax, when you kind of coast, when you kind of push. I don't really feel like my body and my mind quite understand the severity of some points here or there because I haven't played that much.
"Look, I'm disappointed. I'm disappointed. I know that I'm going to be dealing with a lot of shit now on social media. Like, my head's in the shed, to be honest. I don't know. I didn't play great."
The defeat drops the 26-year-old Aussie to No. 78 in the live rankings, which is his lowest ranking spot since he advanced to the 2014 Wimbledon quarterfinals as a 144th-ranked wild card.
Kyrgios said limited play combined with off-the-court issues make it challenging for him to focus point-to-point during match play.
"I just don't feel as if I can lock in as easy as I used to be able to," Kyrgios said. "I feel as if not playing for so long, actually being unattached from the sport, coming back I've lost the severity, as I said, of 30-All points, breakpoints. You know what I mean?
"Everyone's going through their problems off the court, too. I'm going through my problems off the court. They can be playing a part, which I'm not as locked in. It's tough. I'm dealing with problems like we all are. I feel like it affected me a little bit today."
The former world No. 13 credited McDonald, who dropped just seven points on first serve, for outplaying him.
"He played a hell of a match. He was pretty clean, barely made any errors, made a lot of returns," Kyrgios said. "It's one match. In the scheme of things, am I going to remember this match in two years' time? No. So, I mean, I'm not going to be too hard on myself."
Photo credit: Christopher Levy