Nick Kyrgios out of Australian Open to undergo knee surgery

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A ‘devastated’ Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the Australian Open on Monday with a left knee injury requiring arthroscopic surgery.

The 27-year-old Australian, who was runner-up to Novak Djokovic in singles at Wimbledon last year, teamed with good friend Tanasi Kokkinakis to win the men’s doubles title at the 2022 Australian Open.

Kyrgios was considered the host nation’s most likely to win at Melbourne Park this year. Since 1976, no player from Australia has won a singles trophy.

“It’s just bad timing. But that’s life,” he said at a press conference in Melbourne Park, occasionally bowing his head or covering his face with his physiotherapist Will Marr. “Injuries are part of sport,” Kyrgios said.

Kyrgios announced his withdrawal on the opening day of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

“I’m exhausted by everything. It’s pretty brutal obviously,” Kyrgios said of the decision to withdraw. “One of the most important tournaments of my career. It’s never been easy. “

He was seeded 19th in Melbourne and was due to face Roman Safiuline in the first round on Tuesday.

“For the last four or five nights I haven’t had much of a good night’s sleep. I’m just throbbing. You know, that lump will eventually get bigger and bigger,” Kyrgios said. Yeah, the only real way to get rid of it is to open your mind and then get rid of it. ”

He is known to have a personality as fickle as tennis, alternating between sometimes great and sometimes indifferent play, mixing in the occasional quirky outburst during a match. I spoke frankly about it.

Kyrgios is also facing assault charges in a lawsuit pending in his hometown of Canberra.

He certainly attracts attention both on and off the tennis court. That’s why he’s one of the athletes featured in the new Netflix documentary series “Break Point,” which debuted last week.

The Australian Open was supposed to make its official season debut after Kyrgios withdrew from tune-up play in January. He used an exhibition match against Djokovic on Friday in front of a packed crowd at Rod’s Laver his arena for a knee test, but it didn’t go well.

An MRI scan after Kyrgios felt discomfort in his knee revealed a cyst and a small tear in the lateral meniscal ligament. He said he should be able to return to competition by the hard-court tournament in Indian Wells, California in May.

“Look, I have no doubts that I can get back to full strength and play the tennis I was playing before this event. has some great memories here.

“Now all I can do is look forward, do what I have to do and come back.”

___

AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports