Nick Kyrgios has admitted he is scared of hip surgery after being forced to retire in the first round at Wimbledon.

The world No.20 pulled out of his match against Pierre-Hughes Herbert while trailing by two sets to love on Monday.

Kyrgios lasted just 65 minutes and was clearly struggling throughout with a long-standing problem that has flared up since he fell heavily during a match at Queen’s Club two weeks ago.

But the young Australian insists he really does not want to have an operation - which would likely keep him out of action for months.

“I would do everything possible to avoid it,” Kyrgios said. “I’ve got too much stuff going on. I don’t think anyone wants to go down the surgery route.

“But I don’t know. I’m obviously a little bit scared. But I don’t think I need it at the moment.

“Hopefully I’ll just get an injection or something, do rehab, and get healthy.”

To add to Australia’s woes on day one at Wimbledon, John Millman, qualifier Andrew Whittington and Ash Barty were also knocked out.

Millman unsurprisingly lost to Rafael Nadal, but Barty had a great chance to beat Elina Svitolina before going down 7-5 7-6.