{"id":400892,"date":"2026-01-09T01:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T01:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/400892\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T01:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T01:04:09","slug":"australian-open-tennis-news-2026-nick-kyrgios-withdraws-from-singles-after-injury-brisbane-international-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/400892\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian Open tennis news 2026, Nick Kyrgios withdraws from singles after injury, Brisbane International loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aussie tennis<\/a> firebrand Nick Kyrgios<\/a> has withdrawn from attempting to play singles at the Australian Open<\/a> later this month.<\/p>\n

He posted to social media on Friday to announce “I’ve made the call to focus on doubles” and “I’m not quite ready to go the distance” in a five-set singles match.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios had been hoping to earn a wildcard from Tennis Australia given his ranking and recent results did not qualify him for the year’s first major.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: ‘Cult’ of ‘arrogance’ could end three England careers<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: England coach ‘takes offence’ to question from ex-captain<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: ECB slammed for sweeping Brook incident ‘under the carpet’<\/a><\/p>\n

The governing body had so far overlooked the 30-year-old for a wildcard.<\/p>\n

Kyrgios lost the first round of the Brisbane International earlier this week<\/a> and has barely played competitive tennis in three years.<\/p>\n

He enjoyed a career season in 2022 when he made the final at Wimbledon and lost to Novak Djokovic.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Nick Kyrgios grabs at his arm during the Brisbane International.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

But various injuries to his wrist and knees have cruelled him since.<\/p>\n

“After some good conversations with (Tennis Australia), I’ve made the call to focus on doubles at this year’s AO,” he wrote on Friday.<\/p>\n

“I’m fit and back on court, but five-setters are a different beast and I’m not quite ready to go the distance yet.<\/p>\n

The Aussie tennis summer kicks off with the 2026 United Cup from Friday, January 2. Watch it live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“This tournament means everything to me, but I’d rather give my spot to someone who’s ready to make their moment count.<\/p>\n

“It’s all building blocks and I’ll be back next year and pumped to compete.”<\/p>\n

Kyrgios plans to play men’s doubles alongside Thanasi Kokkinakis at the Australian Open, where they won the title in 2022.<\/p>\n

Dubbed the Special Ks, the pair teamed up together for the Brisbane International but were bundled out in the round of 16<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the 2023 Australian Open, Kyrgios withdrew on the eve of the tournament. The following year he sat it out following wrist surgery.<\/p>\n

Last year Kyrgios made it into the Open singles draw thanks to a protected ranking, but he lost his first match in straight sets.<\/p>\n

Last month Aussie tennis great Mark Philippoussis explained why giving Kyrgios a wildcard would be a risk.<\/p>\n

“I see the upside as far as the eyes being on him there,” Philippoussis told ABC.<\/p>\n

“If he can go on and play 100 per cent and loses, that’s OK. If he’s able to compete \u2026 and feel good and he loses, that’s no problem at all.<\/p>\n

After a career-best year, Queenslander Priscilla Hon was among four Australian Open wildcards named on Monday, but Nick Kyrgios was not among them.<\/p>\n

“But if he goes out there and can’t perform but brings in the crowd for a couple of hours, is that enough? It’s tough. I see both sides. I see the upside but also the downside as well.<\/p>\n

“You get a wildcard at a tournament and you don’t produce because physically you break down, it doesn’t look good. It’s not good for the tournament, it’s certainly not good for the player, so everything is a balancing act.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie tennis firebrand Nick Kyrgios has withdrawn from attempting to play singles at the Australian Open later this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":400893,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[565],"tags":[64,63,85,747],"class_list":["post-400892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400892"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400892\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/400893"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}