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Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the Australian Open on Monday due to an injury, saying he was “devastated” to miss his home Grand Slam.
The Australian, who was thought to have a remote chance of winning the competition, has experienced ankle pain before the match.
However, he was forced to leave a day before his first-round match against Russian Roman Safiullin because of knee pain.
In addition, Kyrgios intended to defend his doubles championship with Thanasi Kokkinakis.
“I am devastated, obviously,” he said in a press conference.
“I’ve had some great tournaments here, winning the doubles last year and playing the tennis of my life probably going into this event. Pretty brutal, one of the most important tournaments of my year and it hasn’t been easy,” he added.
“There’s a mixture of emotions just bad timing, but that’s life. injuries are part of the sport.”
The Australian “didn’t pull up great” when Kyrgios’ team used a charity match against Novak Djokovic to test out the injured knee.
The 27-year-old claimed on Saturday that the pressure of being expected to perform well in the year’s first Grand Slam was distracting and made it difficult to concentrate.
However, the divisive Australian added that he felt humbled to be in a position where he was thought to have a good chance of winning his first Grand Slam.
Even though his talent has long been overshadowed by his temper tantrums, Kyrgios had a fantastic year in 2022, making an incredible run to his first Grand Slam singles final at Wimbledon before falling to Djokovic.
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