Kyrgios knew an early withdrawal, regardless of the reason, would draw criticism. It was one of several considerations discussed before he decided to withdraw.

“There’s obviously mixture of emotions,” Kyrgios said. “I guess after the US Open ... I was extremely hard on myself after that loss in the quarter-finals. Obviously thinking that I could win it from there on, and obviously just had Oz Open on the back of my mind from that day forth as soon as I got off the court against [Karen] Khachanov.

“I always wanted to just do everything right and train right and tick every box, and just be ready for the Oz Open. Obviously this coming around is just bad timing. But that’s life. Injury is a part of the sport. I guess I can draw some inspiration from someone like Thanasi who has had a bunch of injuries and has bounced back.”

After his career-best 2022 season, Kyrgios head into the summer with plenty of expectation. A potential quarter-final showdown against Novak Djokovic had already been circled. Kyrgios’ hunt for a first grand slam title will now have to wait until at least Wimbledon, given his feelings towards Roland-Garros.

There was always a question mark hanging over his fitness due to his decision to withdraw from the United Cup in Sydney a fortnight ago.

But this was a completely different injury. By the time that ankle injury had healed, it was his left knee that was bothering him. A precautionary MRI scan revealed his worst fears.

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“Unfortunately, during the last week or so Nick has experienced some discomfort in his knee, routine MRI just to make sure everything was OK,” Maher said.

“There’s a parameniscal cyst growing in his left meniscus, which is the result of a small tear in his lateral meniscus. Even at that stage it was still worth persevering to see if we could do anything to get him back on court. To Nick’s credit, he did try everything, to the point even last week he was having a procedure called a fenestration and drainage where they use a syringe to try and drain the cyst, which Nick has some pretty gruesome photos of.

“Any amount of injections that he could try to get into his knee without causing long-term damage. We came to Melbourne with the hope there might be some pressure relieved from that procedure and he’d have some relief and be able to get up to a level he was comfortable to compete.

“We used the match, the charity event against Novak [Djokovic last Friday], as a gauge to see if he could compete at that highest level. He didn’t pull up great, and he still tried to give himself every chance in the following days to have subsequent training. But it was clear that with each passing session that he was getting sorer and sorer.”

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