Following a challenging year for Nick Kyrgios, 2017 kicked off looking positive, but a knee injury has seen him lose his first singles match at the Hopman Cup.

Concerned about his form for the upcoming Australian Open, the player has pulled out of his mixed doubles with Dasha Gavrilova and will be taking the next four days off to rest and overcome the injury.

Ahead of the clash on Thursday night against American Jack Sock, an MRI had showed there was an issue with his knee, but instead of withdrawing, Kyrgios persevered, losing in straight sets 6-2 6-2.

“It is not terrible but it is not great,” he said following the match.

“I had an MRI (yesterday) morning and I got some results back but obviously it was hindering me a little bit out there but I didn’t want to do anything to make it worse.
“It was weighing on my mind a little bit but I did not think it was going to be terrible when I went out there. Obviously I didn’t want to play a game and then pull out. That would have been the worst thing. In hindsight, I might have, could have pulled out before the match and put another guy who might have been pretty pumped to play.”

While the player did at time seem uninterested on court due to his injury, his opponent came to his defence and said it was nothing like the meltdown Kyrgios had at the Shanghai Masters last October.

“I didn’t see much of the Shanghai match but I think it is a completely different scenario,” Sock said.

“I think Nick needs to get back to 100 per cent health-wise. I think he needs a little rest. Maybe he’s gotten worse through the week.”

Though the world number 13 is expected to play on Monday night in a Fast4 exhibition in Sydney and the World Tennis Challenge in Adelaide, it will all depend on his condition. But the player is feeling optimistic.

“I just need to rest now and a couple of days without the load and I should be back to normal,” Kyrgios said.