Monday 26 December 2016 08:17, UK
Juan Martin del Potro has confirmed he will miss the Australian Open in January.
The 2009 US Open champion also cast doubt on whether he would play in Argentina's Davis Cup first-round tie as they begin the defence of their title at home to Italy in February.
A statement read: "Juan Martin del Potro has confirmed that he has not had sufficient recovery time and will be withdrawing from the Auckland Classic and the Australian Open."
The 28-year-old has been bedevilled by wrist injury problems for two years but returned with a bang in 2016, losing out to Andy Murray in an epic Olympic final in Rio before helping Argentina win the Davis Cup for the first time. Having begun the year ranked 1,042, Del Potro finished at 38 in the world standings.
"What I need is to have someone get me physically fit enough to last the whole year," he said.
"We're looking at what the priority is. If tennis waited for me for two years, Australia can wait for me for one more."
Argentina begin the defence of their title against the Italians in Buenos Aires on February 3, but Del Potro said he was unsure if he would be involved.
"There's still some time to the first tie against Italy but not so much and it's going to be on clay and that's a surface I struggle on," he said.
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