Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic has acknowledged he may have dodged a bullet when Alex de Minaur was forced to withdraw from their Wimbledon quarterfinal on Wednesday. The 24-time major champion, who practised with Nick Kyrgios on Thursday ahead of his semi-final against Lorenzo Musetti, has no doubt de Minaur presented a threat to him. “It is obviously not great for the tournament and it is never great to go through with a withdrawal of a player and I wish Alex the best in terms of his recovery,” he told The Tennis Channel.
“We hope he can come back to the court. Some people were guessing whether it was an ankle, some people wondered whether it was a hip or an ankle and it is terrible. It is the biggest enemy of an athlete, injury, and I wish him a speedy recovery.
“He was in red hot form and it would be a really tough match for both of us. But it is what it is and I am moving on to the semis.” A day after his withdrawal with a freak hip injury, de Minaur posted on social media that he was still heartbroken by an injury expected to sideline him for three to six weeks.
This puts his Olympics spot in extreme jeopardy and he also faces a race against time for the US Open. “There’s nothing I wanted to do more than go out and compete my hardest but my body didn’t allow me to,” the world No. 6 said.
“(I’m) heartbroken and devastated. Thank you to all the support always. I will be back stronger than before.
” The other semi-final on Friday pits defending cha.