Injured Nick Kyrgios withdraws from Wimbledon

Australia’s top tennis hope has withdrawn from Wimbledon just 12 hours before he was due to compete in the first round on court one.

Australia’s top tennis hope Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from Wimbledon just 12 hours before he was due to compete in the first round on court one.

Just hours after fronting a press conference saying “my body is feeling okay. I’m going to take it one day at a time” Kyrgios issued a statement on social media explaining he had suffered a new injury to his wrist.

“Hey everyone really sad to say I have to withdraw from Wimbledon. I tried my hardest to be ready after my surgery and to be able to step onto the Wimbledon court again during my comeback I experienced some pain in my wrist during the week in Mallorca.

“As a precaution I had it scanned and it came back showing a torn ligament in my wrist. I tried everything to be able to play and I am disappointed to say I just didn’t have enough time to manage it before Wimbledon.”

Kyrgios had been scheduled to play Belgian David Goffin, also struggling with injury, but who has been a consistent grand slam quarter-finalist and who was given a wildcard by the All England Club.

Nick Kyrgios makes his way back to the clubhouse after a practice session ahead of The Championships - Wimbledon 2023.

The extremely late withdrawal will allow a lucky loser from the Wimbledon qualifying tournament, with next to no preparation, to play Goffin, Officials have moved the match from the specially ticketed court one to an outside court.

Kyrgios, who made last year’s final, losing to Novak Djokovic, is always charmless and controversial at Wimbledon from swearing at umpires, throwing chairs and spitting at spectators.

Kyrgios had almost foreshadowed the withdrawal, preempting critics of what he might have been able to produce at Wimbledon saying, “I think just people forget how strenuous this sport is, how physical it is. I feel like to the outside world, people don’t understand. Just because it’s not contact, it’s not that physical. I dare someone to go out there and play four hours with Novak and see how you feel afterwards. Yeah, look, I feel probably as good as I could feel at the moment.”

Nick Kyrgios of Australia has his wrist strapped during a practice session at Wimbledon.

When asked if he missed tennis while dealing with his injury, Kyrgios remarked, “But no, I don’t miss the sport at all, to be fair. I was almost dreading coming back a little bit. But it’s my job.”