Australian tennis great Todd Woodbridge has lauded Nick Kyrgios' new and mature approach to injuries, adamant his decision to withdraw from the Australian Open is "better for everyone".
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Kyrgios will return to Canberra in the coming days before having surgery on his knee on Monday after making the tough call to put his grand slam hopes on ice.
The 27-year-old has a cyst growing on his left meniscus and hasn't played a match since the World Tennis League in Dubai at the end of December.
As a younger player, Kyrgios would push through physical and mental exhaustion to fulfil playing commitments, and that correlated with on-court blow ups and controversy.
But Woodbridge said the "shattering" decision to stand down before round one was a sign Kyrgios was making better decisions about his body and career.
"No, I wasn't really shocked because he hasn't played two tournaments leading in [to the Australian Open]," Woodbridge said on Channel Nine.
"He hasn't had the preparation and you start to think how deep can he go? And then when we saw [the image] of what came out of his knee ... there's pretty ugly substances there.
"That really was an indicator that he wasn't really going to go deep in the tournament. So I'm incredibly disappointed for everyone and more so for him, it's another chance lost to win an Australian Open.
"[But in a way] he's making better decisions and not putting himself in a situation where he can lose the plot.
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"That's better for him and it's better for everybody. Maybe he gets a chance next year to play well here."
A shattered Kyrgios vowed to bounce back quickly despite facing a six-week recovery period. He is keen to return to the French Open despite bypassing his least-favourite tournament in previous years.
That could prove crucial in terms of ranking points after missing the Australian Open and limiting his yearly schedule to just a dozen or so tournaments around the world.
He is currently the world No. 21 after a career-best season in 2022. His ranking would have been higher had his run to the Wimbledon final counted to the system.
"Trust me, my heart is broken," Kyrgios said on Twitter. "But I'm on the table Monday to get fixed, I'll be back!"
Kyrgios was criticised earlier this month when he withdrew from the United Cup at late notice. He was also unable to play at the Adelaide International, but had hoped to be fit for what was one of his best chances to make a run to the Australian Open title.
Kyrgios' physiotherapist Will Maher expected Kyrgios to make a quick recovery, but said playing on could've risked more serious injury.
"It won't interrupt his year tremendously ... the prognosis is good," Maher said.
"In terms of making it worse, it could absolutely get worse. The very small tear he has on his meniscus could turn into a much more complicated one and he'd end up losing a large chunk of his meniscus.
"That would affect his long-term prognosis. Playing with pain and compensations is always a problem.
"... Particularly around the back of your knee if your hamstrings aren't firing. My concern would be that he could tear his ACL or do something that would be career altering.
"To lose a grand slam is a step backwards, but to make sure he doesn't do something more significant is far more sensible."
Kyrgios was then dealing with an ankle injury, with his knee flaring up later.
"There's always outside noise, especially with me," Kyrgios said.
"Like seeing people, past players saying 'he's doing his own thing'. I'm dealing with my problems and this was something that I was just dealing with as well as managing expectation, trying to get my body right, trying to feel good about my game.
"There were just so many things that I was dealing with."
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