The 28-year-old Australian made his comeback to the ATP Tour in Stuttgart last week after he had surgery to repair a small tear in his left lateral meniscus in January. He complained of inhibited movement caused by his knee during his first-round defeat to Wu Yibing, however, and the problem has now forced Kyrgios’ withdrawal from the ATP 500 in Halle.

“Very unfortunate news that I won’t be able to compete at Halle this year. Still dealing with a couple of things in my knee, just trying to give myself the best opportunity to compete at Wimbledon,” Kyrgios said in a video posted by the tournament. “As you all know, that tournament means a lot to me and I just want to do everything right by my body. I didn’t want to go out there and not give you the same performance I gave last year. So hopefully next year I’ll be healthy enough to play, see you soon.”

Kyrgios enjoyed the best season of his career in 2022, when he racked up a 37-10 record, including a Tour-leading 12 wins on grass. That tally included his run to a maiden major final at Wimbledon.

Kyrgios’ place in the Halle draw has been taken by Aslan Karatsev. The lucky loser, who reached his maiden ATP Masters 1000 semi-final as a qualifier in May in Madrid, will take on Lorenzo Sonego in the first round in Germany.