Izuchukwu OkosiAhead of the 2023 Wimbledon, 2022 finalist at the tournament, Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of the Halle Open grass-court tournament with an ongoing knee problem.
The Australian, 28, underwent surgery on his left knee earlier this year and is now a doubt for the pre tournament event or the All England Club (Wimbledon) itself.
The withdrawal puts Kyrgios’ Wimbledon participation this year in doubt but has stated he was trying to give himself “the best opportunity” to play in the UK.
An upset against Kyrgios was witnessed in Stuttgart last week when he lost in the first round to China’s Wu Yibing.
That was the Australian’s first match in five months and he struggled with his movement during a straight-set defeat.
In a video released by Halle’s organisers, Kyrgios said his withdrawal from the German tournament was “very unfortunate news.”
“I’m still dealing with a couple of things with my knee… As you all know, that tournament [Wimbledon] means a lot to me and I just want to do everything right by my body,” he added.
Kyrgios reached the semi-finals in Halle last year and then made a maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.
“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 Monday, 3 July.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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