Alex De Minaur has been forced to withdraw from Wimbledon ahead of his quarter-final with Novak Djokovic due to a hip injury.
De Minaur, the boyfriend of British number one Katie Boulter, sustained the issue at the end of his fourth-round victory over Arthur Fils on Monday.
The ninth seed played down the scare despite an initial shake of the head in the direction of his box on Court One, but shortly after midday on the day of his scheduled Centre Court clash with Djokovic, De Minaur pulled out of the Championships.
“Obviously not an announcement I wanted to make by any means,” De Minaur said at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
“Yeah, I’m devastated but had to pull out due to a hip injury.
“I felt a loud crack during the last three points of my match against Fils and got a scan yesterday. It confirmed this was the injury and with high risk of making it worse if I was to step on court.
“It is no secret that at this stage of my career, it was the biggest match of my career.
“I knew the results yesterday but hoped I would wake up today and feel some sort of miracle.
“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.”