Melbourne: Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from Australian Open 2023.
The world No.21 made the announcement to media at Melbourne Park on Monday, a left knee injury preventing him from competing at his home Grand Slam.
Kyrgios explained he has a parameniscal cyst growing in his left meniscus, which is the result of a small tear in his lateral meniscus.
“(This is) one of the most important tournaments of my career. Hasn’t been easy at all,” Kyrgios said of the decision.
“I’m obviously extremely disappointed,” he added.
Kyrgios’ physiotherapist Will Maher explained they had tried all options to compete.
“To Nick’s credit, he did try everything. Even last week, he was having a procedure called a fenestration and drainage where they use a syringe to try and drain the cyst,” Maher said.
“We came to Melbourne with the hope there might be some pressure relieved from that procedure and he’d have some relief and be able to get up to a level he was comfortable to compete.
“We used the match, the charity event against Novak, as a gauge to see if he could compete at that highest level. He didn’t pull up great, and he still tried to give himself every chance in the following days to have subsequent training. But it was clear that with each passing session that he was getting sorer and sorer.
“The situation now is, we want to prevent him from having further injury or making that injury worse. So now he’ll go back to Canberra at the end of the week, he’ll have an arthroscopic procedure to clean up his lateral meniscus and remove the paralabral cyst.”
The knee injury means Kyrgios will miss the Australian Open for the first time since making his debut at his home major in 2014, AO reported.
Kyrgios, who is hoping to be back on tour by Indian Wells in March, conceded it was “just bad timing”.
“That’s life. Injury is a part of the sport. I guess I can draw some inspiration from someone like Thanasi (Kokkinakis) who has had a bunch of injuries and has bounced back,” Kyrgios said.
“I’m not doubting I will be back to my full strength and playing the tennis I was playing prior to this event. I’m devastated, obviously. It’s my home tournament. I’ve had some great memories here. Obviously last year winning the title in doubles and playing the best tennis of my life, probably.
“Then going into this event as one of the favorites, it’s brutal. All I can do now is just look forward, do what I need to do and come back.”
