Alex de Minaur’s devastating injury setback has seen the tennis world rally around the Australian, who was forced to withdraw from Wimbledon this week.
The 25-year-old was slated for a blockbuster quarter-final clash with Novak Djokovic on Wednesday night (AEST), when news broke that he was out of the tournament.
De Minaur had been progressing well through the event, but injured his hip during his win over Arthur Fils in the fourth round.
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Aussie great Ash Barty has already come out to publicly throw her support behind de Minaur, who is now at risk of missing the Olympics with the injury, before another grand slam champion reacted to the disappointing news.
Alex de Minaur has been ruled out of Wimbledon. Getty
“I was very surprised and my first feeling was that I feel really sorry for him,” Kim Clijsters said on Stan Sport’s Grand Slam Daily.
“We all deal with injuries, but that it has to happen in a situation like this, the biggest match of his career – it’s very unfortunate.
“He’s a fit player and he has a really good team around him of people who have a lot of experience to get him back to the level he was playing at … that’s going to be the goal.”
De Minaur will now be racing the clock to compete at Paris and given the passion he has shown during his career whilst wearing the green and gold, he will be desperate to make it back onto the court at Roland-Garros.
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Former Olympian Casey Dellacqua sympathised with de Minaur, but admitted that his chances of returning to the court in less than three weeks is unlikely.
“Like so many people, I’m just disappointed for Alex and knowing the position he was in … the best form of his career, it’s just devastating,” she said.
“I did have a quick chat to Alex after he had withdrawn and you could just sense and see the utter disappointment in his face. If you’re hampered by an injury, it’s just really hard to go out there and play … it’s the right decision, but I’m devastated for him.
“I think the problem is that it’s an injury where if you play, you’re actually going to make it worse. Sometimes with injuries, if you feel like you’re not going to make it worse, you can just kind of push through.
“The age that he’s at, he’s got such a long career ahead of him … being an Olympian is something special and for Alex, that would be something he has dreamed of. It’s just devastating for him, but he is 25 and has a long career ahead of him.
“Hopefully he does the rehab and gets back ASAP.”
Clijsters revealed she dealt with similar issues during her own career and it can be a tricky one for players to deal with.
“I’ve had a few hip injuries and a couple of tears in the hip joint and it’s a tough spot, it hurts with almost everything that you do,” she said.
“It’s not like you can hide it or try to adjust your shot a little bit, so any push or rotation, you feel that.
“I hope that there’s a lot of new technologies and let’s hope that he can have some good treatment and be ready for the Olympics.”