Fresh injury twist delays Nick Kyrgios’ return to tennis after French Open withdrawal

Nick Kyrgios’ return to the court has been further delayed after the Aussie star suffered a cruel injury in a freak accident.

It’s emerged a freak foot injury, not an existing knee complaint, ruled Nick Kyrgios out of the French Open and has further delayed his return to professional tennis.

Kyrgios officially withdrew from the French Open this week, continuing his torrid run with injury throughout 2023.

The 28-year-old underwent knee surgery earlier this year to remove a cyst after he pulled out of the Australian Open.

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While it was initially thought the knee injury had forced Kyrgios to skip the French Open, his manager has revealed a freak foot injury has pushed back his return to the court.

The Canberra Times reports Kyrgios cut his foot during a frantic morning at his Canberra home when a man allegedly threatened his mother with a gun and then stole his Tesla.

Kyrgios helped police track down the bright green car, but realised he had lacerated his foot in all the chaos.

“We don’t know when it happened, but it’s quite a large laceration,” his manager Daniel Horsfall told the Canberra Times.

Nick Kyrgios can’t take a trick right now. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

“The location of the wound, it’s been open for almost a week and a half now. It’s not healing correctly and he can’t put in the work on court, so he’s been off court for almost two weeks now.”

Horsfall said Kyrgios was recovering from knee surgery well but was now targeting the start of the grass court season in Stuttgart and Wimbledon after this latest setback.

“The knee surgery went as well as it possibly could and his rehabilitation was fantastic and we were at the point where we were doing on-court loading and management,” Horsfall said.

“We needed to be at a point that he could comfortably play five sets.

“We’ll start the process once the wound starts to heal and scab. We’re definitely still trying to make the first tournament of the grass season.

“He just misses the competition … this is the longest he’s been out of tennis because of injury.

“We would’ve been ready to go, but we had to readjust the schedule.”

The unfortunate injury news means Kyrgios will miss the first two grand slams of the year. He hasn’t played the French Open since back in 2017.

Kyrgios is now targeting a return for the grasscourt season. (Photo by Saeed KHAN / AFP)

The setback also forced Kyrgios to pull out of an exhibition match in Denmark against Holger Rune.

Despite the withdrawal of Kyrgios, Aussies will feature heavily in the mens draw with Alex de Minaur, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Jason Kubler, Alexei Popyrin, Christopher O’Connell, Jordan Thompson and Max Purcell.

Kyrgios has been building for a return to the professional circuit, but his return will be delayed again as all eyes now turn to Wimbledon.

The mercurial Aussie enjoyed a stellar 2022 that saw him reach his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon.

Kyrgios has endured a tumultuous month, revealing this week he was mourning the passing of his grandmother.