A foot injury sustained during the theft of Nick Kyrgios’s car has been cited as the real reason behind his absence from this year’s French Open, rather than a persistent knee problem.
The tennis star’s mother was allegedly held at gunpoint in Canberra this month by a man who demanded she hand over Kyrgios’s green Tesla, according to court documents.
Kyrgios’s agent Daniel Horsfall said the player had injured himself in the “high-adrenalin rush” during the incident.
While Kyrgios was unable to recall how he sustained the injury, Horsfall suggested it may have occurred as he was rushing through his house to reach his distressed mother.
“During the incident on May 1, they had the armed robbery at the house. With all the stuff that was going on Nick lacerated the side of his left foot. We don’t know how,” Horsfall told Reuters.
“Basically, it’s just set him back about two and a half weeks in terms of his loading schedule to get back on court for what we thought was going to be the Grand Slam.”
The suspect was arrested by police shortly after the robbery with the help of Kyrgios using a phone application to track his car.
Kyrgios’s recovery from knee surgery, the reason behind his no-show at the Australian Open, was initially cited for his decision to withdraw from the Roland Garros tournament, but Horsfall said he was in “fantastic shape” after surgery.
“His fitness is at a fantastic level. It was just when we got to the last point of that rehab, the on-court loading, this freak accident happened,” he said.
In a Twitter post on Thursday, Kyrgios responded to the revelation behind his French Open withdrawal with, “Only human”.
Horsfall said training had been difficult with the laceration to the underside of the player’s left foot near his baby toe.
“He couldn’t slide, couldn’t get on court because every time he put a shoe on it moved and it would re-open,” Horsfall said.
But with the foot injury almost healed, he is optimistic Kyrgios will be able to start increasing his hours on court and could return during the grass-court season.
