A matter of hours after announcing he was ready for the tournament, Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of Wimbledon citing a torn ligament in his wrist.
Kyrgios, who lost last year’s Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic, posted a message on social media on Sunday night (Monday Australian time) announcing his withdrawal.
“I’m really sad to say that I have to withdraw from Wimbledon this year,” he wrote.
“I tried my hardest to be ready after my surgery and be able to step on the Wimbledon courts again.
“During my comeback I experienced some pain in my wrist … 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 that I just didn’t have enough time to manage it before Wimbledon.”
Kyrgios, who pulled out of January’s Australian Open due to a knee injury that required surgery, had been drawn to begin his 2023 Wimbledon campaign against Belgium’s former world No 7 David Goffin on Monday.
He also missed the French Open, with his one match this year coming last month at the Stuttgart Open, when he lost to China’s Wu Yibing 7-5, 6-3.
There were some clues he may not make his first-round date in London SW19, with Kyrgios on Sunday telling reporters “there are still some question marks for sure”.
“I feel as good as I probably could feel at the moment,” he said. “I have worked extremely hard to play, and super-excited to see how it goes.”
Despite his enthusiasm, a rethink during the day in London led Kyrgios to err on the side of caution and pull out of the grass-court tournament.
No 15 seed Alex de Minaur will lead Australia’s charge in the men’s singles, with Max Purcell, Jordan Thompson, Jason Kubler, Alexei Popyrin, Chris O’Connell and Aleksander Vukic also taking their place in the first round.
In the women’s singles, Daria Saville will take on Great Britain’s Katie Boulter, while Storm Hunter plays Wang Xinyu, of China.