Nick Kyrgios pulls out of Australian Open with injured knee

An “extremely disappointed” Nick Kyrgios pulled out of the Australian Open on Monday — the day earlier than he was scheduled to play his first-round singles match — due to an injured knee that wants arthroscopic surgical procedure.

Kyrgios, a 27-year-old from Australia, was the runner-up to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon final yr in singles and teamed with good good friend Thanasi Kokkinakis for the lads’s doubles championship on the 2022 Australian Open. Kyrgios was thought of the host nation’s strongest probability to win a title at Melbourne Park this yr; no man from Australia has received the singles trophy there since 1976.

He introduced his withdrawal on Day 1 of motion on the yr’s first Grand Slam event, showing at a information convention at Melbourne Park alongside his bodily therapist, Will Maher.“I’m just exhausted from everything. Obviously pretty brutal,” Kyrgios stated of the choice to sit down out. “One of the most important tournaments of my career. Hasn’t been easy at all.”He was seeded nineteenth in Melbourne and was speculated to face Roman Safiullin within the first spherical on Tuesday.

Australian tennis participant Nick Kyrgios in Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 13, 2023. On the eve of the Australian Open, the electrical, typically eccentric tennis star, has change into the game’s largest draw but in addition its riskiest pitchman. (Alana Holmberg/The New York Times)

Kyrgios is as mercurial a personality as there’s in tennis, recognized for alternating sometimes-brilliant and sometimes-uninterested play, in addition to mixing within the occasional outlandish outburst throughout matches. He has spoken frankly about coping with psychological well being points. Kyrgios additionally has been dealing with a cost of assault in a pending court docket case in his hometown of Canberra.He is nothing if not attention-grabbing on and off a tennis court docket, actually, which is why he is among the athletes featured within the new Netflix docuseries “Break Point” that made its debut final week.

The Australian Open was speculated to mark Kyrgios’ official season debut after he withdrew from tuneup play earlier in January. He used an exhibition match in opposition to Djokovic on Friday in entrance of a packed home at Rod Laver Arena to check the knee, however that didn’t go effectively.

Maher stated that an MRI examination after Kyrgios felt discomfort in his knee revealed a cyst and a small tear within the lateral meniscus ligament. The coach stated the issue is “not career-threatening,” and that Kyrgios ought to be capable of return to competitors by the hard-court event at Indian Wells, California, in March.