Nick Kyrgios withdraws from Halle Open with knee injury

Nick Kyrgios says he will give himself every chance to be ready for Wimbledon after withdrawing from the Halle Open with an ongoing knee problem.

Runner-up at the All England Club last year, Kyrgios has played just one match in the past five months.

“As you all know, that tournament [Wimbledon] means a lot to me and I just want to do everything right by my body,” Kyrgios added.

Kyrgios suffered a first-round loss to China’s Wu Yibing at the Stuttgart Open last week, struggling with his movement during a straight-set defeat.

He reached the semi-finals in Halle last year and then made a maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.

In a video released by Halle’s organisers, Kyrgios said he is still dealing with “a couple of things with my knee”.

“I didn’t want to go out there and not give you the same performance I gave last year [at Halle]. So hopefully next year I’ll be healthy enough to play,” he said.

After his loss in Stuttgart, Kyrgios tweeted: “It’s a process to get back to where I was. I know it’s hard for you to see me perform like today, but I need more time and hopefully can get back to where I was.”

Kyrgios is scheduled to play in Mallorca next week, while Wimbledon starts on 3 July.