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Nick Kyrgios of Australia was set to start his run at the 2023 Australian Open on Tuesday in Melbourne. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Jan. 16 (UPI) — An MRI revealed injuries to Nick Kyrgios’ left knee, forcing him to withdraw from the 2023 Australian Open, the Australian tennis star and his physiotherapist announced Monday. “I’m devastated, obviously” Kyrgios said at a news conference in Melbourne. ” This is my home tournament, and obviously winning the tournament in doubles [in 2022] and [was] playing the best tennis of my life. Advertisement
“All I can do is my best to come back. It’s brutal.”
Kyrgios was the No. 19 men’s singles seed. He was set to face Russian Roman Safiullin on Tuesday in a first-round match. He announced that his MRI revealed a small tear and a cyst in his lateral meniscus.
“It’s been a pretty interrupted and difficult lead-in,” said Will Maher, Kyrgios’ physiotherapist. “In the last week, Nick has experienced discomfort in his knee. There’s a small tear in his lateral meniscus. It was worth persevering to see if he can get back on court.”
Maher said Kyrgios could make the injury worse by playing in the first Grand Slam of the season.
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“It’s not a significant injury in the sense that it’s going to be career threatening or anything like that,” Maher said. “Even at that stage it was still worth persevering to see if we could do anything to get him back on court.
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“To Nick’s credit, he did try everything, to the point even last week he was having a procedure called a fenestration and drainage where they use a syringe to try and drain the cyst, which Nick has some pretty gruesome photos of. I’m sure he’ll probably share them later.”
American Denis Kudla replaced Kyrgios in the draw. He will face Safiullin Tuesday morning in Melbourne.
The 2023 Australia Open launched Monday in Australia, but started airing late Sunday in the United States due to a 16-hour time difference.
The women’s singles final will air at 3 a.m. EST Jan. 27 on ESPN. The men’s final will air at 3 a.m. Jan. 28 on the same network.