Nick Kyrgios on Monday pulled out of the Australian Open tournament with a knee injury on opening day.
The 27-year-old Australian had hoped to end his country’s 47-year wait after reaching the Wimbledon final and the quarter-finals of the U.S. Open last year.
Speaking with reporters at Melbourne Park, he said “I’m devastated obviously. It’s like my home tournament”.
“Honestly, I’m just exhausted from everything, and obviously pretty brutal. One of the most important tournaments of my career. It hasn’t been easy at all.”
His physiotherapist, Will Maher said Kyrgios had been troubled by a cyst on a small tear in the meniscus of his left knee for a couple of weeks and that withdrawing from the tournament was the sensible decision.
“It’s not a significant injury in the sense that it’s going to be career-threatening or anything like that,” Maher added.
“The situation now is we wanted to prevent him from having a further injury or making that injury worse. The prognosis is good and he’ll be fine. We just go back to work and make sure everything is fine for him and we go again.” Maher said
Kyrgios would have surgery on the joint and was hoping to be ready for the Masters’ tournament in Indian Wells, California, in early March.
Kyrgios said the knee was “constantly throbbing” and that a hit with doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis on Monday morning convinced him to withdraw.
The withdrawal also means that Kyrgios and Kokkinakis dubbed the “Special Ks,” will be unable to defend their men’s doubles title, which they won at Melbourne Park last year.
“Obviously this coming around is just bad timing, but that’s life” Kyrgios added. “Injury is a part of the sport. I guess I can draw some inspiration from someone like Thanasi who has had a bunch of injuries and has bounced back.
“Look, I’m not doubting I will be back to my full strength and playing the tennis I was playing prior to this event.”
Kyrgios said he thought he had a real shot at becoming the first Australian since Mark Edmondson in 1976 to win the men’s singles title.
“We felt we had a genuine chance of winning an event, winning a Grand Slam and answering the questions,” he said.
