Aussie tennis legend Todd Woodbridge slams Nick Kyrgios over Australian Open-wrecking knee injury

Todd Woodbridge has laid some of the blame for Nick Kyrgios’ devastating knee injury on the Australian star’s feet and said his preparation for the Australian Open was lacking.

Kyrgios made a shock withdrawal from his home grand slam on Monday afternoon, revealing he had suffered a partially torn meniscus and a cyst in his knee after injuring himself about two weeks ago.

The 19th seed returns to his hometown of Canberra for surgery next Monday – and while the problem isn’t career-threatening, he and his physio Will Maher have decided not to make it worse at Melbourne Park and risk permanent damage.

Kyrgios was left shaken when he announced he would be retiring from his home Grand Slam just over 24 hours before his first match

The Australian men’s singles hope (pictured with girlfriend Costeen Hatzi) injured his knee two weeks ago after being unable to play warm-up tournaments due to a previous ankle injury

Kyrgios had a less than ideal preparation for the Open after injuring his ankle. This injury kept him away from pre-tournament tournaments and saw him retire from the United Cup at the end of December just 24 hours before his scheduled game.

“Ultimately you have to look at the preparation beforehand – was that right for what he needed?” Woodbridge said on Tuesday.

“I would hope he would look at what he did at Wimbledon last year when his preparation was great.

“Preparing from a physical point of view, to then getting into the lead-in tournaments, playing enough games to go to Wimbledon and knowing that everything was in that positive frame that he was talking about, that his ball is hitting well was that his health was good, it gave him a chance to get into a final.

Todd Woodbridge pointed to the big difference between Kyrgios’ preparation for his stellar run at Wimbledon last year and the star’s preparation for the action at Melbourne Park

The Aussie posted a grisly picture of the fluid having to be syringed out of his knee as he raced against the clock to get ready for the Open

“Was that the preparation before this summer? That is the question.

“If you look back at his schedule you would say it was difficult to see that preparation as he flew around the world playing exhibition events.”

Kyrgios picked up the ankle injury that ruined his preparation while competing in a money-busting exhibition tournament in Dubai in December.

This comes after he faced criticism for snubbing Australia’s Davis Cup team so he could take home a six-figure payday by playing at a tournament in Saudi Arabia.

Shortly after his shock announcement on Monday, Kyrgios posted a grisly image of the fluid drained from his knee just before his elimination from the tournament.

Maher explained that he and his protégé used last Friday’s charity match against Novak Djokovic to assess whether the knee could hold up over the course of the two-week Grand Slam, but the star pulled himself up poorly.