MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) 鈥 Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of the Australian Open because of an injured knee, a day before he was scheduled to play his first-round match.
Kyrgios was the runner-up at Wimbledon last year in singles and the men's doubles champion at the Australian Open and considered the host countrysa国际传媒 strongest chance to win a title at Melbourne Park this year.
Kyrgios announced his withdrawal on Monday, Day 1 of action at the yearsa国际传媒 first Grand Slam tournament.
He spoke at a news conference at Melbourne Park, accompanied by his physical therapist.
Kyrgios was seeded 19th in Melbourne and was supposed to face Roman Safiullin in the first round on Tuesday.
鈥淚鈥檓 just exhausted from everything. Obviously pretty brutal,鈥 Kyrgios said of the decision to sit out. 鈥淥ne of the most important tournaments of my career. Hasn鈥檛 been easy at all.鈥
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