Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic advanced to the semifinals at Wimbledon on Wednesday after his scheduled opponent, Australia’s Alex De Minaur, withdrew with a hip injury.
De Minaur, the ninth seed, was injured at the end of Monday’s win over Frenchman Arthur Fels. At the time, he thought he was fit to play, but he lasted less than 10 minutes of practice Wednesday morning and said the risk of further injury was too high.
“I’m very sad,” he said. “I had to pull out because of a hip injury, a little tear in the end or the fibrocartilage that connects to the adductor muscle. In the last three points of the game against Phils, I felt a loud pop. I had a scan yesterday. , it turned out to be an injury and it would have probably gotten worse had I played.
It’s a huge disappointment for the 25-year-old Australian, who reached the quarter-finals for the first time here and reached the quarter-finals at last month’s French Open.
“It was devastating and I haven’t really been able to enjoy what I accomplished this week because I knew once I felt that pop, I knew something bad was going on,” he said. “In the long run, it could be worse, so I try to hold on.
De Minaur said he has had trouble sleeping and is experiencing pain when walking, and doctors have told him his recovery could take three to six weeks, but their confidence is low due to the nature of the injury.
“I can’t tell you a definite rehab plan because this is a very unique injury,” he said. “It’s based on my pain, a little bit. Now, it could take three to six weeks, depending on how quickly my body heals.
“As we all know, at this stage, this is the most important game of my career. I want to play as hard as I can. I got the result yesterday. I knew yesterday what the result was, but I still wanted to wake up today and It felt like something miraculous. But one stretch, one slide, one movement of anything could extend the injury time from three to six weeks to four months, so it was too risky to take.
Djokovic, who is trying to win a record 25th Grand Slam title, will now rest for two days before facing American 13th seed Taylor Fritz and Italian 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti on Friday. winner’s game.
