Alex de Minaur will have scans that could determine if his season is wrecked following a heartbreaking injury retirement in the biggest final of his career against indestructible Novak Djokovic at the China Open.

A shattered de Minaur will fly from Beijing to Shanghai, where he’ll get tests to learn the extent of the adductor injury that could keep him out of the Masters 1000 event.

De Minaur’s withdrawal from the China Open final when 7-6 (7-3) 0-1 down to the amazing Djokovic on Tuesday demonstrated the potential seriousness of the problem. There would have been no way otherwise he would have retired while battling for arguably the biggest match-win and title of his career.

“I was feeling quite good, then felt something midway, [at the end] end of the first set that gradually got a little worse,” de Minaur said after Djokovic had won his 102nd career title despite his own physical struggles.

“I felt something in the adductor. I don’t know what it is yet. I’ve got to get some more scans. My plan is to go to Shanghai and get scans.”

Alex de Minaur was the runner-up at the China Open in Beijing. Photo: AAP

After Jannik Sinner’s revelation on Tuesday that his season is over because of knee trouble, de Minaur is now eighth in the Race to Turin live standings. If he can maintain that position, he should again make the end-of-season ATP Finals.

But it’s a tight turnaround. The Australian is meant to open his Shanghai campaign on Friday or Saturday.

“I don’t feel great,” de Minaur said, apologising to the Chinese National Tennis Centre crowd for his withdrawal.

“I didn’t want to finish like this, so really, really sorry.”

The extraordinary twist after a high-quality tussle was that it had been Djokovic who’d looked far more likely to retire after calling for the trainer to treat another of the continuing unspecified on-court medical ailments that have beset him all season.

Novak Djokovic gets a medical time out. Photo: AAP

But after Djokovic’s on-court treatment following a tight first set, which was eventually decided after 67 minutes by three de Minaur forehand errors in the breaker, it was de Minaur’s turn to immediately receive an off-court medical timeout, even though there’d been no signs of a problem.

He returned, his left thigh heavily strapped, and held serve impressive to launch the second set. So there was shock all round as de Minaur suddenly approached the net to gloomily offer his hand, explaining he couldn’t carry on.

It was an anti-climactic end to a brilliant, lung-busting contest, with the 39-year-old Djokovic, incredibly, celebrating his first triumph of the year to maintain his unreal record of a tournament win in each of the last 21 seasons.

Even de Minaur felt moved to tell Djokovic: “It was pretty amazing as a fan of the sport to watch the tennis you produced this whole week.”

Djokovic, in response, told de Minaur after lifting the trophy for the seventh time and continuing his unreal record of 34 match wins and no losses in Beijing: “I’m really sorry for the way it had to finish today and I hope you can recover quickly.”

After Daniil Medvedev had a day earlier been defaulted for hitting a spectator in the face with a ball petulantly swatted away, Djokovic said: “I don’t think it’s happened ever in my career that I have won semis and finals without finishing the match — a bit of a strange feeling.

“I want to celebrate because I’ve played one of my best weeks in the last couple of years, but at the same time, Alex retired so it doesn’t kind of feel right and respectful to jump around and be joyful.

“But deep inside, I’m very, very proud of this achievement. It’s been a challenging year. Many times I’ve questioned whether I want to play, keep on playing this way, but this week has proven me wrong once again and given me a great confidence boost for the rest of the season.”

As for “Demon”, it’s not all been so deflating amid a promising late-season renaissance.

“I played some great stuff, felt amazing on the court,” he said.

“Everything except for the end was really positive.”

-AAP