Australia’s No. 1 player on the ATP tour and the world’s No. 6 on the live ATP rankings, Alex De Minaur, has withdrawn from his Wimbledon quarterfinals clash with Novak Djokovic due to a hip injury the Australian suffered at the end of his fourth round match against Arthur Fils.
Novak Djokovic had to withdraw from the French Open quarterfinal against Casper Ruud due to a knee injury he had suffered against Francisco Cerundolo in the fourth round, and now a withdrawal by his opponent sends him into the Wimbledon semifinals.
Alex De Minaur: “I’m Devastated.”
Well, obviously not an announcement I wanted to make by any means. Yeah, I’m devastated, but had to pull out due to a hip injury. A little tear of the fiber cartilage, kind of it’s at the end or next to the adductor.
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 a high risk of making it worse if I was to step on court.
Getting injured at such a period in the season when the Olympics is right around the corner and De Minaur is set to lead Australia’s charge for Olympic Gold, is devastating. The Australian’s team doesn’t even know when he’d be able to return to competitive tennis.
If I’m completely honest, I don’t know. They haven’t been able to tell me a definite recovery plan because it’s such a unique injury. It’s based on pain, a little. Right now, it could be anywhere from 3-6 weeks. It just depends on how quickly my body heals.
Novak Djokovic Into Wimbledon Semifinal
Alex De Minaur has faced Novak Djokovic three times in his career, losing twice and winning once against the seven-time Wimbledon champion. The Australian has never gone beyond the quarterfinal stage of a Grand Slam tournament and the 2024 Wimbledon Championships was his opportunity to change 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 got the results yesterday.
I knew what the results were yesterday and I still wanted to wake up today, hoping that I would feel some sort of miracle and not feel it whilst I was walking.
The problem with me going out and playing is that one stretch, one slide, one anything can make this injury go from 3 to 6 weeks to 4 months. So, it’s too much to risk.
Following Alex De Minaur’s withdrawal, Novak Djokovic will face Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti in the semi-finals of Wimbledon. The Italian defeated America’s Taylor Fritz in the quarterfinals in five sets. This would be Novak Djokovic’s 13th semifinal in the tournament and his 49th in a Grand Slam tournament.
This is the fourth semifinal appearance for Novak Djokovic in 2024. The Serbian lost the last three to Jannik Sinner, Casper Ruud, and Tomas Machac in the Australian Open, Monte-Carlo Masters, and Geneva Open respectively. If Djokovic wins the semifinal, he’d be featuring in his 10th Wimbledon final and his 37th Grand Slam final overall.
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