With Wimbledon on his mind, Nick Kyrgios pulls out of Halle to give left knee more time

LAST WEEK: Wu d. Kyrgios in Stuttgart

Nick Kyrgios became the latest player to withdraw from Halle after pulling out of the Terra Wortmann Open on Monday.

The Australian, who was sidelined with a left knee injury until making his season debut last week, felt he wasn’t ready to perform to his full potential at the 500-level event.

“Very unfortunate news, I won’t be able to compete at Halle this year. I’m still dealing with a couple things with my knee,” Kyrgios said in a video message.

Kyrgios lost his 2023 opener in Stuttgart to Wu Yibing, 7-5, 6-3, and could be surpassed by his peers for a Wimbledon seeding depending on this week’s results. The Canberra native made his major final debut at SW19 in 2022, before losing the championship match to Novak Djokovic over four sets.

Currently ranked No. 31, it's no surprise the 28-year-old's priority is making another deep run in London. The grass-court major begins July 3.

“Just trying to give myself the best opportunity to compete at Wimbledon. As you all know, that tournament means a lot to me,” he said. “I just want to do everything right by my body. I didn’t want to go out there and not give you the same performance I gave last year.”

Kyrgios joined two-time Roland Garros finalist Casper Ruud and top-ranked Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime in dropping out of Halle. Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego will now face lucky loser Aslan Karatsev.