Stanislas Wawrinka Ruled out of US Open with Knee Injury

Stanislas Wawrinka will not return to New York to defend his U.S. Open title at the end of August after having surgery on a knee injury, which will keep him out of action until next year.

The Swiss took to his official Facebook account and explained he was hopeful of returning to play in 2018:

Wawrinka made it to the semi-finals of the Australian Open at the beginning of the year and lost out to Rafael Nadal in the final of the French Open, but his good run ended with a first-round Wimbledon exit at the hands of Daniil Medvedev.

A previous post from Wawrinka on Wednesday announced he had opted out of upcoming competitions in Canada and Cincinnati to concentrate on resolving the injury that "plagued" him during Wimbledon.

Wawrinka won the 2016 U.S. Open after exiting last year's Wimbledon Championships in only the second round, giving fans hope he could still turn form around to retain his New York crown.

However, tennis reporter Jose Morgado commented on what this could mean for the 32-year-old's ATP ranking, which is set to fall from his current perch at No. 4 in the world:

All three of Wawrinka's Grand Slam victories have come since the beginning of 2014, with the veteran still yet to progress further than the quarter-finals at Wimbledon, the only major missing from his trophy collection.

Statistical account Gracenote Olympic noted the odds were against Wawrinka in his bid to win successive U.S. Open titles in any case, although it was another Swiss star who last managed the feat:

Wawrinka will hope the coming months off lead to a reinvigorated title challenge in 2018, and this will be the first year since 2013 in which he will fail to win a Grand Slam crown.

He follows former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic as the second high-profile star to end their 2017 season early—the Serb doing so as a result of an elbow injury—with both players seeking more positive runs of fitness in 2018.