Aussie tennis legend Todd Woodbridge slams Nick Kyrgios for leaving himself open to the serious knee injury that wrecked his Australian Open by not preparing properly
- Kyrgios pulled out of Australian Open on Monday afternoon
- Star hurt his knee two weeks ago and it didn’t respond to treatment
- Woodbridge said his lacklustre preparation is partly to blame
Todd Woodbridge has laid some of the blame for Nick Kyrgios’ devastating knee injury at the feet of the Aussie star, saying his preparation for the Australian Open was lacking.
Kyrgios was a shock withdrawal from his home grand slam on Monday afternoon, revealing he’d suffered a partially torn meniscus and had a cyst in his knee after hurting it about two weeks ago.
The 19th seed is returning to his home town of Canberra for surgery next Monday – and while the problem isn’t career-threatening, he and his physiotherapist Will Maher decided not to worsen it at Melbourne Park and risk permanent damage.
Kyrgios was shattered when he announced he was pulling out of his home grand slam little more than 24 hours before he was due to play his first match
The Aussie men’s singles hope (pictured with girlfriend Costeen Hatzi) hurt his knee two weeks ago after a previous ankle injury left him unable to play in warm-up tournaments
Kyrgios had a far-from-ideal preparation for the Open after hurting his ankle, with that injury keeping him out of lead-up tournaments and seeing him pull out of the United Cup in late December just 24 hours before he was due to play.
‘Ultimately, you have to look at the preparation before – was that exactly right for what he needed?’ Woodbridge said on Tuesday.
‘I would hope he has a look at what he did at Wimbledon last year when his preparation was great.
‘The lead-up from a physical point of view, to then getting into the lead-in tournaments, to playing enough matches to be able to walk into Wimbledon knowing that everything was in that positive frame that he spoke about, that his ball striking was good, that his health was good, it gave him a chance to get in a final.
Todd Woodbridge pointed out the big difference between Kyrgios’ lead-up to his stellar run at Wimbledon last year and how the star prepared for the action at Melbourne Park
The Aussie posted a grisly picture of the fluid that had to be removed from his knee with a syringe as he raced the clock to be ready for the Open
‘Was that the preparation that happened before this summer? That’s the question.
‘If you were looking back at his schedule you would say that it was difficult to see that prep when he was flying around the world playing exhibition events.’
Kyrgios picked up the ankle injury that ruined his preparation while he was playing in a money-spinning exhibition tournament in Dubai in December.
That came after he copped heavy criticism for snubbing Australia’s Davis Cup team so he could take home a six-figure payday for playing in a tournament in Saudi Arabia.
Shortly after his shock announcement on Monday, Kyrgios posted a grisly picture of the fluid that was drained from his knee shortly before he quit the tournament.
Maher explained that he and his charge used last Friday’s charity match against Novak Djokovic to judge whether the knee could hold up over the course of the two-week grand slam, but the star pulled up badly.
Advertisement
