Nick Kyrgios has pulled out of his final competitive warm-up for Wimbledon, leaving the prospect of the injury-stricken maverick having another big run at his favourite event looking increasingly desperate.
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Kyrgios announced his withdrawal from this week's Mallorca Open because of the continuing knee problem that also forced him to make a similar announcement before pulling out of the Halle Open last week.
It has raised further question marks over whether the 28-year-old, who reached the final last year, would even be able to manage to negotiate a first-round match at the All England Club this year, with the tournament start only nine days away.
The mercurial Canberra star did practice at the Santa Ponsa Country Club on the Spanish island on Friday but, in a similar post to the one he recorded before his Halle withdrawal, he announced on Saturday there was still "a lot going on" with his body although he was still hopeful of playing Wimbledon.
But his latest pull-out means that if he does manage to play at the All England, his first-round match will only be his second competitive contest in nearly nine months following surgery to his knee.
"Super disappointed that I can't compete in Mallorca," Kyrgios said in a video post.
"I've still got a lot going on with my body at the moment and with Wimbledon just around the corner hopefully I will be able to get healthy for that."
Those looking for Kyrgios to be able to pull off something special off the back of poor preparation only need to look at how he withdrew from the Mallorca event last year too with an abdominal injury, only to play some dazzling tennis on his run to the Wimbledon final, where he pushed Novak Djokovic to four sets.
But he's only played one match this season earlier this month in Stuttgart, where he was beaten by an absolute beginner on grass, Wu Yibing, and felt pain in his knee on almost every point, moving gingerly as he went down 7-5 6-3.
Kyrgios has constantly told his fans in social media posts "be patient with me please", but time has almost run out for him to do himself any justice at all at Wimbledon, where he's due to compete for the ninth time.
Earlier on Saturday, Kyrgios had defended Stefanos Tsitsipas over comments the Greek had made about him, which had been criticised by some on social media as "racist".
Tsitsipas had said on the Netflix documentary series 'Break Point' that Kyrgios brought an "NBA basketball attitude" to tennis and that he approached the sport in an "uneducated" way.
After it prompted a social media backlash, Tsitsipas insisted: "It has come to my attention that some individuals have misinterpreted my comments regarding Nick Kyrgios, labelling him as uneducated and accusing him of bringing a basketball mentality into tennis, insinuating racism where none exists."
Tsitsipas added he "deeply" regretted if he had caused offence, and said he "simply intended to express my perspective on certain aspects of his playing style, drawing comparisons to the passion and intensity often associated with basketball."
Kyrgios later responded on Twitter, saying: "It was a very heated battle. Sometimes as players we go into these press conferences without digesting the match... We've had some crazy battles and I know deep down you like my brand of tennis. We are all good."
Australian Associated Press
