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Hammer blow for the Australian public. Nick Kyrgios, with a knee injury, announced on Monday his withdrawal from the 2023 edition of the Australian Open. For the first time in 10 years, he will be absent from his national Grand Slam, for which he had great ambitions. He had already given up the United Cup two weeks ago.
This is the big news of this first day of the Australian Open. The tournament has started since only a few hours, but it is already over for Nick Kyrgios. The Australian number one, more expected than ever in Melbourne, announced his withdrawal due to a knee injury. A hard blow for the Wimbledon finalist, but also for the tournament itself, which loses one of its outsiders and one of its main animators. According to his physiotherapist, he is suffering from a torn lateral meniscus and a cyst in his knee.
Nick Kyrgios was however on the court Friday night for a show-exhibition with Novak Djokovic on the Rod Laver Arena. He used this practice game “as a test”, but the result was hardly conclusive. “It’s bad timing, but that’s life, injuries are part of sport,” he said fatalistically at a press conference. I have no doubt that I’ll be back to my best but right now I’m devastated because I’m playing probably the best tennis of my career. So it’s very hard.”
HE CHOSE TO BE CAUTIOUS
At the very beginning of January, her last-minute withdrawal from the United Cup, the new mixed team competition co-organized by the ATP and the WTA, had already raised questions. But she still had two weeks to get back into the swing of things before the Australian Open. This was not the case. Kyrgios will undergo an arthroscopy in the coming days. By lining up in Melbourne, he would have taken the risk of aggravating his injury and of leaving with several months of unavailability. With his clan, he has therefore chosen to be cautious.
Although he had not reached the quarter-finals since 2015, the Australian could have hoped for great things this year given his performances in the last Grand Slam tournaments, a final at Wimbledon and a quarter at the US Open. He says he only lives for major tournaments, especially his own and Wimbledon, and now one of his major goals for the season has fallen by the wayside. Nick Kyrgios was scheduled to face Russian Roman Safiullin in the first round on Tuesday. His withdrawal makes the happiness of the American Denis Kudla, who enters the main draw as a lucky loser.
