Halle, Jun 19: Last year's Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios withdrew from the Halle Open on Monday in his latest setback as he tries to recover from a long-running knee injury. "I tried everything here in Halle the last couple of days, but then I had to make the decision to pull out”, Kyrgios said in a statement on the tournament website. “I want, when I play, to deliver a performance like last year when I was in the semifinals. But that will really not be possible.” Halle Open 2023: Daniil Medvedev Beats Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-3, Enters Second Round.

Tournament organizers said Kyrgios was "still suffering from the aftereffects of a complicated knee injury which had put him out of action for around seven months,” adding that he felt a recurrence of the knee issue while training in Halle.

Kyrgios, who had knee surgery in January, returned to action last week for the first time since October in a straight-set loss to Wu Yibing at the grass-court Stuttgart Open.

Halle is another grass event viewed as a warmup for Wimbledon. The Australian had been due to play Lorenzo Sonego in the first round and his place has now been taken by former Australian Open semifinalist Aslan Karatsev. (AP) AM

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)