Nick Kyrgios forced to drop out of Wimbledon due to a wrist injury

Australian Nick Kyrgios has dropped out of Wimbledon due to a wrist injury. Photograph: Florian Eisele/Pool/AELTC/AFP via Getty Images

Australian Nick Kyrgios has dropped out of Wimbledon due to a wrist injury.

The 28-year-old from Canberra, who reached last year’s final for the first time before falling to Novak Djokovic, made the announcement on his social media account on Sunday night, the eve of the first day of the singles tournament.

“I’m really sad to say that I have to withdraw from Wimbledon this year,” he wrote.

“During my comeback, I experienced some pain in my wrist during Mallorca. As a precaution I had it scanned and it came back showing a torn ligament in my wrist.

“I tried everything to be able to play and I am disappointed to say that I just didn’t have enough time to manage it before Wimbledon.”

Kyrgios had been scheduled to begin his campaign against Belgian former quarter-finalist David Goffin on Court One on Monday.

The start of an injury-hit season saw Kyrgios pull out of the Australian Open in January, a decision made on the eve of the tournament that left him “devastated”.

Surgery on a cyst growing in his meniscus quickly followed and he was not able to return to competitive action until June. He then suffered a first-round loss to China’s Wu Yibing at the Stuttgart Open and struggling with his movement during a straight-set defeat pulled out of the Halle event the following week.

He had been practising at the All England Club this week, saying his body felt “OK”.

Johnny Watterson is a sports writer with The Irish Times