Double Wimbledon blow after injury cruels Aussie
A combination of 'everything' forced the world No.44 to retire during the second set of his clash with fifth seed Taylor Fritz who called the Australian 'valiant' for even getting onto the court for the fourth round clash.
Thompson rebuffed the compliment from his opponent and having battled injury leading into and during the tournament, said rest would be crucial to be able to prepare for the US Open.
That would likely mean giving up his doubles campaign with French partner Pierre-Hugues Herbert, having lost last year's final with fellow Aussie Max Purcell.
'Everything in my body's already aggravated, and I think I just made it worse,' Thompson said having shaken hands with his opponent down 3-0 and 40-o after losing the opening set.
'It's just my back. And my legs are obviously very tight from compensating. Reaching up to get that lob, I don't think that my back liked it very much, and neither did my legs.'
'Honestly, I feel like a bit of a pussy pulling out. I wouldn't call it valiant.'
It was still the best singles return at Wimbledon for Thompson who almost didn't start the event before consecutive five-set matches took their toll.
'I've been sore every day, and was kind of waiting for it to happen,' said the 31-year-old, who missed out on making his maiden grand slam quarter-final.
'I had been thinking of not playing this tournament. So I'm now just taking the positives, it's my best result here, so it's still a great tournament.'
He said it would be a 'miracle' if he played out the doubles.
'It's looking that way,' he said.
'I told my partner, if by some miracle, I wake up tomorrow morning and feel like I have been in the previous matches that I'll play, but I'd say a 95 per cent chance of not.'
His exit leaves Alex de Minaur to carry Australian hopes as the lone singles player among the original 17-strong contingent and Thompson is confident Australia's top player can topple eight-time champ Novak Djokovic on Centre Court on Monday night.
'Well, Demon's beaten him before and I haven't,' said Thompson.
''If he believes he can win, he can. He's the underdog, so, hopefully, he plays freely and just takes it to him.'
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