Tennis player Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the Australian Open with a knee injury a day before he was due to play his opening match.
The 27-year-old Wimbledon runner-up said he was “devastated” not to be able to play in Melbourne.
Kyrgios was scheduled to play Russian Roman Safiullin on Tuesday.
“Obviously, it was pretty brutal before [одним] one of the most important tournaments in my career,” Kyrgios said. “It wasn’t easy at all.”
Kyrgios, considered one of the favorites to win the title, was “out of breath” after meeting Novak Djokovic on Friday, according to his physio Will Mager.
Maher said they used the charity event as a “benchmark” to see if a player could compete at the highest level.
But he later informed the Australian that he would potentially be out of the five-set series for two weeks.
“He was still trying to give himself every chance in the following days to get through further training,” Maher added.
“But with each subsequent session, it was clear that he was getting worse and worse.”
Kyrgios, who will not be able to defend his men’s doubles title here, will need surgery on a cyst growing in his meniscus but expects to be fully recovered to play in Indian Wells in March.
“Obviously, I’m devastated. It’s like my home tournament. I have great memories,” Kyrgios said.
“Obviously last year I won the doubles title and probably played the best tennis of my life.”
