A heartbroken Alex de Minaur has had to pull out of Wimbledon with a “freak injury”, withdrawing before the biggest match of his career to save his season.

Just hours before he was due to play seven-time champion Novak Djokovic on Centre Court in his first quarter-final at the All England Club on Wednesday (local time), Australia’s No.1 had to admit defeat to the painful injury.

He has been told it could sideline him for up to six weeks. That means de Minaur’s dream of playing at the Olympics for the first time, following his misery at missing Tokyo through Covid-19, also looks set to be dashed.

The No.9 seed suffered the injury cruelly in the dying moments of his fourth-round match against Arthur Fils on Monday. That result that set him up for his maiden last-eight appearance at SW19 and a dream date in the sport’s greatest arena against Djokovic.

But his withdrawal on Wednesday morning (local time) gave Djokovic a free pass into the semi-final, where he’ll face Taylor Fritz or Lorenzo Musetti on Friday.

“I’m devastated but I had to pull out due to a hip injury, a little tear of the fibre cartilage that kind of is at the end or connects to the adductor,” the crestfallen de Minaur said at a hastily called news conference.

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

“They haven’t been able to give me a definite recovery time because it’s such a unique injury. Right now, it could be anywhere from three-to-six weeks out, it just depends how quickly my body heals.

“The problem with me going out and playing was that one stretch, one slide or one anything, could make this injury go from three to six weeks out to four months, so it was too much to risk.”

De Minaur had one last hit-out with his Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt on the Aorangi Park practice courts on Wednesday. It was obvious he couldn’t move properly without pain.

“It’s devastating. No way to beat around the bush, I haven’t really been able to enjoy what I’ve achieved this week because I knew as soon as I felt that pop, something bad had happened,” he said of the physical and emotional stress.

“It’s been two days of worrying, and waiting to see what the results showed. In the grand scheme of things, it could have been worse.

“I have been struggling to sleep the last couple of days. I feel it walking, just hoping I would wake up and feel it a little bit less, or that I could at least go on court.

“But I think it’s almost disrespectful for me not to go on the court close to 100 per cent against someone like Novak.

“This is a completely unique injury they’ve got very little research on. There’s four years worth of research, so that’s why they couldn’t give me an approximate recovery time.

“It’s more just hope, wait and see. I’m hoping the pain goes down with a bit of rest.”

Oh goodness, I think Alex de Minaur actually hurt himself on match point. pic.twitter.com/FBWde9hhJC

— Stephanie Myles (@OpenCourt) July 8, 2024

De Minaur is due to play both singles and doubles in Paris, alongside Alexei Popyrin, Djokovic’s third-round victim at Wimbledon.

In London, he had seemed to be having an armchair ride towards the meeting with Djokovic – until the fateful final moments against Frenchman Fils.

Stretching to make the winning volley in a fine win over Fils, his muted immediate post-match celebration made it obvious how bad it was.

“What hurts so much more is  knowing I’m so close, closer than ever before,” said the 25-year-old, who could still move into the world’s top six for the first time next week.

But the walkover offers Djokovic yet another slice of tennis history. He is into the Wimbledon semi-finals for the 13th time, equalling Roger Federer for the most by any man in the tournament’s history.

-AAP