2022 finalist Nick Kyrgios withdraws from Wimbledon with new injury, will miss 3rd straight Grand Slam
After expressing early Sunday that he was ready to return to Grand Slam play following knee surgery, Nick Kyrgios announced later in the day that he was withdrawing from Wimbledon because of a wrist injury.
The 2022 Wimbledon finalist made the announcement on Instagram.
"I'm really sad to say that I have to withdraw from Wimbledon this year," Kyrgios wrote in an Instagram story. "I tried my hardest to be ready after my surgery and to be able to step on the Wimbledon courts again. During my comeback, I experienced some pain in my wrist during the week of Mallorca. As a precaution I had it scanned, and it came back showing a torn ligament in my wrist."
Kyrgios made the 2022 final at Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic. Djokovic won in four sets, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6. It was the deepest Grand Slam run in Kyrgios' career and a breakthrough for a player better known for his outbursts than his play on the court.
Kyrgios has been sidelined with the knee injury that included a meniscus tear for most of 2023. He missed both the Australian Open and the French Open. He called the decision to pull out of the Australian Open after an MRI revealed the injury "pretty brutal."
"One of the most important tournaments of my career,” the Australian native said of the Open.
Kyrgios made his return to tennis on June 13 on the grass courts at the Stuttgart Open. He'd planned to make his Grand Slam comeback at Wimbledon before news of the wrist injury sidelined him yet again. He was slated as the tournament's No. 30 seed and scheduled to face Belgium's David Goffin in the first round on Monday. Goffin's new first-round opponent wasn't immediately clear as of Sunday evening.
Kyrgios vowed in his statement to come back.
"I tried everything to be able to play, and I am disappointed to say that I just didn't have enough time to manage it before Wimbledon — I'll be back."
He didn't include a prognosis or timetable for his return. His next shot at playing in a Grand Slam would arrive at the US Open, which starts on Aug. 28.
