In Stuttgart, tennis entertainer Nick Kyrgios lost his comeback after knee surgery.
The 2022 Wimbledon finalist looked unfit in a 5-7, 3-6 defeat of China’s Wu Yibing and was far from top form in his first game of the year. The 28-year-old Australian had not played a match since October last year and had his knee operated on in January.
With the elimination of the two-time semi-finalist at Weissenhof, the Stuttgart tournament lost another prominent player. On Monday, Italian defending champion Matteo Berrettini was eliminated in the first round.
From a German trio of participants, only Jan-Lennard Struff reached the second round. Alexander Zverev had canceled his planned participation after reaching the semifinals at the French Open due to thigh problems.