The Laver Cup could be the last event Nick Kyrgios has played in 2019 after he announced his withdrawal from a series of tournaments due to injury.
The former top-20 player published a statement on Thursday confirming that he will return back to Australia to rest. Recently, during the Laver Cup Kyrgios sustained a collarbone injury, which sidelined him on the final day of the competition. The injury is said to be having an impact on the service motion of the Australian.
“Unfortunately a collarbone injury I sustained at Laver Cup has escalated and has forced me to pull out of the Asian swing, I’ll be heading back to Australia to rest and recover.” The 24-year-old wrote on Twitter.
Kyrgios’ decision comes a day after he lost his opening match at the Zhuhai Championships to Andreas Seppi. Speaking to reporters after the loss, he confirmed that he would not play until he is fully fit. However, he has given no time limit as to when that could be. Kyrgios has ended his past two seasons early due to injury issues. In 2017, it was due to his hip and in 2018 it was his elbow.
“There’s no point for me to play if I can’t really serve, because serving is my strength, my favourite shot.” He told reporters in China.
“So if I’m not able to serve at my best and I’m hindered, I’m probably not going to bother playing until I can get it right again.
“I was playing well in the first set, I was obviously up a break serving for the set and… I was obviously struggling a lot. I’m serving usually somewhere around the 230 km per hour mark and I wasn’t even able to crack about 180.”
There is still a chance that the world No.27 could return to action before the end of the year with the Davis Cup finals taking place in November. The team tournament has been revamped this year. For the first time in its history 18 teams will participate in a week-long round-robin competition held at the Caja Magica in Madrid. Australia has been drawn in the same group as Belgium and Colombia.
“I want to play [in the] Davis Cup toward the end of the year, that’s mid November,” Kyrgios stated.
“So until … then I’ve got a lot of time, I can rest, recover, get my shoulder right.”
Kyrgios has won two ATP titles on the tour this season in Acapulco and Washington. During that period he has achieved a win-loss record of 21-14. Five of those victories were over top 10 players.
