Alex de Minaur has announced he won’t be able to compete in his scheduled Wimbledon quarterfinal against Novak Djokovic.
London, Great Britain, 10 July 2024 | Leigh Rogers
A devastated Alex de Minaur has withdrawn from Wimbledon 2024 with a hip injury.
The 25-year-old revealed the news to media today at the All England Club, hours before his scheduled quarterfinal meeting with world No.2 Novak Djokovic.
“Obviously not an announcement I wanted to make by any means,” an emotional De Minaur said. “Yeah, I’m devastated, but had to pull out due to a hip injury, a little tear of the fibre cartilage that kind of is at the end or connects to the adductor.”
The world No.9 revealed he heard “a loud crack” in the final stages of his fourth-round win against Frenchman Arthur Fils and underwent scans yesterday to investigate.
“It has been two days of worrying, just waiting to see what the results showed,” he said.
“I wanted to do anything I could to play. I knew what the results were yesterday, but I still wanted to wake up today and feel some miracle, and not feel it while I’m walking.
“The problem with me going out and playing is one stretch, one slide, one anything can make this injury go from three-to-six weeks to four months.”
De Minaur described the chance to face Djokovic in the Wimbledon quarterfinals as “the biggest match of my career”.
“I have struggled to sleep for the last couple of days, I have hoped I would wake up and feel it to a point where I can at least go on court,” he said.
“(But) it’s almost disrespectful for me not to go on court 100 per cent against someone like Novak.”
De Minaur tried to remain upbeat, noting he could be proud of advancing to back-to-back Grand Slam quarterfinals.
“In the grand scheme of things, it could have been worse, I try to hold on to that,” he said.
The Australian No.1, who has been selected to make his Olympic debut later this month, also revealed he is unsure when he will be back on court next.
“If I am completely honest, they haven’t been able to give a definite recovery plan as it is a unique injury,” he said.
“It’s based on pain. Right now, it can be anywhere from three-to-six weeks, it depends how quickly my body heals.”
This is the first time that De Minaur, who has contested 536 singles matches across his professional career, has handed a walkover to an opponent.
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