Alex de Minaur has been forced to pull out of his quarter-final showdown against Novak Djokovic following an injury he sustained at Wimbledon earlier this week.
The ninth seed said he felt a large crack during the last three points of his match against France’s Arthur Fils, who he defeated 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, two days ago. Following the match, De Minaur underwent medical tests on Tuesday which confirmed he has suffered a tear in his fibre cartilage which is predicted to sidelined him from the Tour for three to six weeks.
Describing the issue as a ‘freak injury,’ a devastated De Minaur tried everything he could do to be fit for his first-ever Wimbledon quarter-final.
“Obviously not an announcement I wanted to make by any means. I am devastated to pull out due to a hip injury, a little tear of the fibre cartilage that kind of is at the end of or connects to the adductor.” He said.
“I felt a loud crack during the last three points of my match against Fils and got a scan yesterday and it confirmed that this was the injury and with high risk of making it worse if I was to step on court.”
The 25-year-old took to the practice courts this morning to see if he felt any better but did not. Before the announcement of his withdrawal, he saw Djokovic’s manager and notified him of his decision but is yet to speak with the world No.2.
“It’s no secret that at this stage of my career, it was the biggest match of my career. I wanted to do anything I could to play. I knew what the [scan] results were yesterday, but I still wanted to wake up today and feel some miracle, and not feel it while I’m walking,” de Minaur explained.
“The problem with me going out and playing was that one stretch, one slide or one anything, I could make this injury go from three-to-six weeks to four months, so it was too much to risk.
“It’s devastating. There is no way to beat around the bush. I haven’t really been able to enjoy what I’ve achieved this week because I knew when I felt that pop – I knew something bad had happened. So, it’s been two days of worrying, and waiting … in the grand scheme of things, it could have been worse.”
De Minaur has now reached the quarter-finals of a major event on three separate occasions so far in his career. In this year’s Wimbledon draw, he also beat James Duckworth and Jaume Munar in straight sets. He didn’t play his third round encounter against Lucas Pouille after the Frenchman pulled out of the match due to injury.
“This hurts more knowing that I feel close, closer than ever before, I feel like, I am putting myself in this position, I cannot go out there and play.” De Minaur reflected.
“To the British fans who have supported me, I am extremely disappointed, I felt great playing in front of them, this has always been a special place. I hope I have more to show in years to come. You never know, go deep.” He added.
He now faces a race against time to be fit for the Olympic Games in Paris which will begin next month.
Meanwhile, Djokovic is through to his 13th Wimbledon semi-final which equals Roger Federer’s all-time record. He is also only the third man in the Open Era to reach the last four at the tournament after turning 37.
Awaiting the Serbian in the next round will be either Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti or Taylor Fritz. He leads Fritz 9-0 in their head-to-head and has lost only one out of his six meetings against Musetti.
