Alex de Minaur has pulled out of the singles draw at the Olympic Games after failing to recover in time from injury.
De Minaur, who was the fifth seed in the draw, had been in a race against time to be fit for the event after suffering a freak injury at Wimbledon. At the All England Club, he tore the fiber cartilage in his hip region and subsequently had to withdraw from his quarter-final clash against Novak Djokovic. At the time of the announcement, it was estimated that he would be sidelined from the Tour for three to six weeks.
Despite making progress in his recovery, the 25-year-old is still not fit enough to play singles and will now switch his focus to the doubles tournament where he will be playing alongside Alexi Popyrin.
“Tried my best to be ready for the singles but my body needs a bit more time,” de Minaur wrote on Instagram.
“Looking forward to the doubles with Alexi Popyrin,” he added.
The withdrawal comes three years after the Australian missed out on playing at the Tokyo Games after testing positive for COVID-19. This year is the first time he is playing in the event.
“He has tried to do everything possible to get himself ready to play singles at the Olympics,” an Australian Olympic Committee spokesperson commented on Sunday.
There is yet to be any official confirmation on who will be replacing de Minaur in the singles draw. Whoever is selected will play Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.
De Minaur and Popyrin will play fourth seeds Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in their first match.
