Nick Kyrgios pulled out of the U.S. Open on Thursday, meaning he will have missed all four Grand Slam tournaments the year after reaching his first major final.
Kyrgios has played in just one official singles match all season — a loss in Stuttgart, Germany, in June.
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Soon after that, he withdrew from Wimbledon, citing a wrist injury. It was at the All England Club in 2022 that Kyrgios turned in his best run at one of the sport's four most important events, finishing as the runner-up to Novak Djokovic.
Then, at the U.S. Open a year ago, Kyrgios made his deepest run at Flushing Meadows by making it to the quarterfinals. He eliminated reigning champion and No. 1-seeded Daniil Medvedev in the fourth round, before losing in five sets to Karen Khachanov.
The 28-year-old from Australia began 2023 by sitting out the Australian Open because of an injured left knee that required arthroscopic surgery.
He also missed the French Open. All of the time away has resulted in Kyrgios dropping in the ATP rankings and he is currently No. 92.
Play begins in the singles main draws at the U.S. Open in New York on Aug. 28. The brackets will be determined on Aug. 24.
The U.S. Tennis Association announced Kyrgios' withdrawal, along with that of Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. No specific reasons for their absences were immediately given by the USTA.
Two players from Argentina moved into the men's singles field to replace them: Facundo Diaz Acosta and Diego Schwartzman.
Hours before Kyrgios withdrew from Wimbledon in early July, he was asked at a pre-tournament news conference whether he missed tennis during all of the time away.
“No, I don’t miss the sport at all, to be fair. I was almost dreading coming back a little bit,” he said with the hint of a smile. “But it’s my job.”
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AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis