'Devastated' Kyrgios pulls out of Australian Open with knee injury

“The situation now is we wanted to prevent him from having further injury or making that injury worse. The prognosis is good and he'll be fine. We just go back to work and make sure everything is fine for him and we go again.”

Maher said Kyrgios would have surgery on the joint and thought he would recover in time to play at the Masters tournament at Indian Wells in California in early March.

Kyrgios said there was a “constant throbbing” from the knee and that a hit with doubles partner Thanasi Kokkinakis on Monday morning convinced him he had to pull out.

The withdrawal also means Kyrgios and Kokkinakis — dubbed the 'Special Ks' — will not be able to defend the men's doubles title they won at Melbourne Park last year.

“Obviously this coming around is just bad timing, but that's life” Kyrgios said. “Injury is a part of the sport. I guess I can draw some inspiration from someone like Thanasi who has had a bunch of injuries and has bounced back.

“Look, I'm not doubting I will be back to my full strength and playing the tennis I was playing before this event.”

Kyrgios said he thought he had had a real shot at becoming the first Australian since Mark Edmondson in 1976 to win the men's singles title. “We felt we had a genuine chance of winning an event, winning a Grand Slam and answering the questions.”

Reuters