kyrgios
HALLE, Germany — Last year’s Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the Halle Open on Monday in his latest setback as he tries to recover from a long-running knee injury.
In a German-language statement on the Halle Open website, Kyrgios was quoted as saying he had withdrawn because he didn’t feel he could compete at the level he did last year, when he was a semifinalist in Halle before going on to reach the Wimbledon final.
“The 28-year-old Australian is still suffering from the after effects of a complicated knee injury which had put him out of action for around seven months,” organizers said, adding that he felt a recurrence of the knee issue while training in Halle.
Kyrgios, who had knee surgery in January, returned to action last week for the first time since October in a straight-set loss to Wu Yibing at the grass-court Stuttgart Open.
Halle is another grass event viewed as a warmup for Wimbledon. The Australian had been due to play Lorenzo Sonego in the first round and his place has now been taken by former Australian Open semifinalist Aslan Karatsev.