Nick Kyrgios bothered by knee injury; Is basketball to blame?

Nick Kyrgios’ season hasn’t started out quite the way he hoped it would.

The Australian, coming off a suspension for not giving his best effort in a match, was bothered by a knee injury in his 7-5, 6-4 win over Adam Pavlasek at the Hopman Cup on Tuesday night.

According to the Australian Associated Press, the 21-year-old’s left leg was heavily strapped, and he hobbled during his 76 minutes on court. On an encouraging note, he moved better in the second set than he did in the first.

He tried to work points quickly in an effort to prevent further injury, according to the AAP, but the change in style didn’t seem to negatively affect his play.

On Sunday, the world No. 13 told the AAP that he hurt his left leg playing basketball. But on Tuesday he provided more clarification, telling reporters that a knee injury has been plaguing him for weeks.

"I just had a little bit of knee pain the last couple of days,” Kyrgios said, according to the AAP. “It has actually been troubling me for the past couple of weeks … Obviously the first match back, a couple of weeks ago, was tough, and I am just getting used to it again. But hopefully it gets warm soon and it will ease off.”

Kyrgios won three titles in 2016, and has achieved a career-high ranking.