Heartbreak for “devastated” Demon
It was set to be a compelling Elite 8 battle, but No.9 seed Alex De Minaur had to withdraw prior to his maiden Wimbledon quarter-final with Novak Djokovic.
The dejected Australian called a press conference to announce a hip injury he sustained at the tail end of his fourth round triumph over Arthur Fils was too painful to continue in The Championships.
As a result, Djokovic advances to a mind-boggling and men’s record-extending 49th Grand Slam semi-final. The Serbian has also equalled Roger Federer’s all-time record of 13 appearances in the men’s last four.
“Obviously not an announcement I wanted to make by any means. Yeah, I’m devastated, but I had to pull out due to a hip injury, a little tear of the fiber cartilage that kind of is at the end or connects to the adductor,” explained the in-form De Minaur.
“I felt a loud crack during the last three points of my match against Fils and got a scan yesterday (Tuesday), and it confirms that this was the injury and with high risk of making it worse if I was to step on court.
“It’s no secret that at this stage in my career this was the biggest match of my career. I wanted to do anything I could to play. I knew what the results were yesterday. I still wanted to wake up today hoping that I would feel some sort of miracle. It was too much to risk.”