British No.2 Kyle Edmund has suffered a setback to the start of his season after being forced to withdraw from the Australian Open due to a persistent injury.
BBC Sport have confirmed that the world No.48 has decided to skip the Melbourne major after failing to recover in time from a knee injury which has troubled him in recent weeks. It is believed that the problem is the same issue which forced him to end his 2020 season early. In October he pulled out of his final tournament at the Paris Masters after feeling soreness in his knee.
“Unfortunately, my knee is not quite ready to compete in the upcoming Australia swing,” Edmund said in a statement published by the BBC.
“I hope to be back competing soon.”
Edmund has been training but also opted not to play in the Battle of the Brits tournament last month due to his knee. The Times newspaper has previously noted that he has been blighted by chronic pain in the area over the past two years.
It was at the Australian Open where the 26-year-old achieved his best ever Grand Slam performance by reaching the semi-finals in 2018. However, since then his success in the majors has taken a dip. Edmund has failed to win back-to-back matches at the last seven Grand Slam tournaments played.
2020 was also a turbulent season for the Brit who won the New York Open last February. Since then, he has only managed to reach the quarter-final stage at one other tournament and is currently on a four-match losing streak on the ATP Tour.
Edmund’s latest misfortunes is good news for Belarus’ Ilya Ivashka who will now be moved into the main draw of the Australian Open for only the third time in his career. The tournament will start on February 8th after being delayed by three weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
