Halle Open: Nick Kyrgios out of competition after knee injury

HALLE, Germany –

Nick Kyrgios, who finished second at Wimbledon last year, pulled out of the Halle Open on Monday in his latest setback as he attempts to recover from a long-running knee injury.

“I tried everything here in Halle in the last few days, but then I had to make the decision to stop,” Kyrgios said in a statement on the tournament website. “When I play, I want to deliver a performance like last year when I was in the semi-finals. But that will really not be possible.”

Tournament organizers said Kyrgios was “still suffering from the after-effects of a complicated knee injury that had put him out of action for about seven months”, adding that he felt a return of the knee problem during training at Halle.

Kyrgios, who underwent knee surgery in January, returned to action for the first time since October last week after an outright defeat to Wu Yibing on the Stuttgart Open grass court.

Halle is another grass event that is seen as a warm-up for Wimbledon. The Australian should face Lorenzo Sonego in the first round and his place has now been taken by former Australian Open semi-finalist Aslan Karatsev.