Injured De Minaur pulls out of Djokovic quarter-final

Australian Alex De Minaur pulled out of his Wimbledon quarter-final against second seed Novak Djokovic on Wednesday due to a hip injury,sending the Serbian into a record-equalling 13th semi-finalat the grasscourt Grand Slam.

Ninth seed De Minaur sustained the injury in the closing stages of his 6-2 6-4 4-6 6-3 fourth-round win over Frenchman Arthur Fils on Monday.

“I’m devastated to pull out due to a hip injury, a little tear of the fibre cartilage that is at the end of or connects to the adductor,” said De Minaur, who stunned Djokovic at the United Cup team tournament in the opening week of the season.

“I felt a loud crack during the last three points of my match against Fils and got a scan yesterday and it confirmed this was the injury and with high risk of making it worse if I was to step on court.”

The 25-year-old has reached two Grand Slam quarter-finals, losing to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 U.S. Open and Alexander Zverev at this year’s French Open.

“I knew the results (of the scan) yesterday, but hoped I would wake up today and feel some sort of miracle,” added De Minaur, who is enjoying his best season on the tour having reached the top 10.

“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.”

The Australian is now in a race to be fit for the Olympics, where the tennis event begins at Roland Garros on July 27.

De Minaur’s withdrawal meant seven-times champion Djokovic equalled Roger Federer’s record of 13 appearances in the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Djokovic is also looking to match the Swiss maestro’s tally of eight titles at the All England Club and the 37-year-old will next face American Taylor Fritz or 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti, who meet later.