Nick Kyrgios forced to skip French Open due to foot injury

Nick Kyrgios (Pic: AFP)

Tennis star Nick Kyrgios was forced to withdraw from the prestigious French Open due to a foot injury after a man allegedly threatened his mother with a gun and stole his car near his Canberra home, according to Australian media. The Canberra Times said on Thursday that in the aftermath Kyrgios realized he cut his foot in the scramble to help his family and track down the thief.

A man was arrested in Canberra soon after the robbery this month, with Kyrgios assisting police by using an app on his phone to locate the car.

Kyrgios' manager, Daniel Horsfall, said the 26th-ranked Australian hoped to increase his on-court training workload over the past three weeks, but the wound has not properly healed.

It forced Kyrgios to pull out of an exhibition match against Holger Rune in Denmark and the French Open, which he last played in 2017.

"We needed to be at a point where he could comfortably play five sets. Right when we were getting stuck into the loading period, the (alleged) armed robbery happened," Horsfall was quoted as saying.

Kyrgios hasn't played a tournament since October after scans showed a cyst growing on his meniscus. He withdrew from the Australian Open in January, when he underwent surgery.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal is expected to announce on Thursday whether his absence due to a hip injury will include the French Open, a tournament he has won a record 14 times. Nadal's manager, Benito Perez-Barbadillo, said Wednesday that Nadal would speak to the media at his tennis academy in Manacor, Spain, about his participation in Roland Garros. Interestingly, he has never missed the French Open since winning the title there when he made his debut in 2005.

Several sports outlets based in Spain said Wednesday that Nadal would not be competing at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament in Paris, where main-draw play begins May 28. None of the reports cited a specific source. Nadal has been sidelined since hurting his left hip flexor during a second-round loss at the Australian Open on Jan. 18.

(With AP inputs)