Nick Kyrgios marked his return to the All England Club by swearing at an umpire before saying an emotional goodbye to his Wimbledon career following a first-round doubles loss Wednesday.
The controversial Australian was playing in his first match at Wimbledon since losing the 2022 men's singles final. Playing men's doubles alongside Alexander Bublik, they were already a set down to Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic when Kyrgios' serve was broken at the start of the second.
As Kyrgios sat down at the changeover, French umpire Manuel Absolu said something to the fiery 31-year-old.
"Honestly, at this point you can fine me, I honestly don't even care," Kyrgios responded. "Honestly you can fine me. I don't give a s---. All these rules are so dumb anyway."
After the 6-3, 6-4 loss to the sixth-seeded Arevalo and Pavic, Kyrgios said "I would probably say pretty confidently my last Wimbledon," adding that toward the end of the match he was "looking around and taking everything in" and "it was tough."
Kyrgios was fined three times during Wimbledon in 2022, twice for swearing and once for spitting in the direction of a spectator. He has been fined several other times in his career, including a $113,000 sanction from the ATP at the 2019 Western and Southern Open, when he swore at and berated the umpire and smashed a couple of rackets, and a total of $60,000 for a series of angry outbursts at the Indian Wells and Miami Open events in 2022.
Plagued by injury since his surprise run four years ago, Kyrgios did not receive a wild card in singles but was given one to play in men's doubles.
"It would be hard to see myself coming back here again and competing," Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios was beaten by Novak Djokovic in the 2022 singles final, calling it "one of the better memories of my tennis career" but noting that "I just can't see myself getting back to anywhere near that level."
He wouldn't call it the end of his entire career or discuss whether he would like to say goodbye at the Australian Open.
"I've just got so many thoughts right now," Kyrgios said. "You go from making finals of Grand Slams to struggling to play multiple singles matches."
Still, Kyrgios enjoyed playing doubles one last time at the grass-court Grand Slam.
"Going out with someone like Bublik who keeps it pretty lighthearted, it's a lot of fun," he said. "But at the same time, a lot of things were running through my head the last couple of games."
The Associated Press and PA contributed to this report.