Nick Kyrgios won't play at the 2023 Halle Open as he was forced to withdraw from the ATP 500 event because of an injury.
The 28-year-old has been away for eight months when he made his comeback at the 2023 Stuttgart Open. However, that didn't go according to his plans, losing to Yibing Wu in the first round of the tournament.
But the loss wasn't a problem, the problem was how the Australian felt on the court. Only from watching it was quite obvious that Kyrgios was far from his best, and he even said it himself on the court, expressing frustration over not being able to even walk without a pain.
The World No. 31 then asked his fans for patience, as he knew that getting back to top form may take some time. Now, it seems that probably much longer time than the Australian initially expected as he was forced to withdraw from another tournament.
Coming to Europe, Kyrgios probably expected a smooth sailing and a solid preparation for Wimbledon, where he's the defending champion. But out of the first two events that he was scheduled to play, he competed in only one match, with his participation at the 2023 Mallorca Championships now also in doubt.
Only recently, the Australian said that if he doesn't beat Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, then probably no one else will, but ambitions of going far in the All England Club this year may be too high.
The official reason for Kyrgios' withdrawal is a knee injury, which also forced him out of the majority of the 2023 season. Combined with the fact that he complained about pain during his match in Stuttgart, things are looking rather bleak for the last year's Wimbledon finalist.
Even Carlos Alcaraz said that Kyrgios has a high chance of beating Djokovic, but we'll see if that match will happen as the Australian's preparation is now in serious doubt. Fans will now await to see if he competes in Mallorca or takes even more time off to focus on Wimbledon. In a statement, the Australian said:
"Very unfortunate news, I won't be able to compete in Halle this year. Still dealing with a couple of things with my knee, just trying to give myself the best opportunity to compete at Wimbledon. As you all know, that tournament means a lot to me, and I didn't want to go out there and not give you the same performance I gave last year."
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