Wimbledon takes another soul as Alex de Minaur withdraws before Novak Djokovic match

Things looked brilliantly for Alex de Minaur during the fourth round as he defeated Arthur Fils. That is, they looked excellent until they didn't. At the very end of the match, de Minaur said that he heard a "crack" and he knew something had gone terribly wrong. He walked to the net to shake Fils' hand and then walked and sat solemnly on his chair.

One might have assumed the Australian would be celebrating as he made the quarterfinals at the grass-court major for the first time. Instead, after watching him get hurt and the way he reacted, tennis fans might have safely assumed de Minaur was done at Wimbledon 2024.

He decided to withdraw from the event on Wednesday ahead of his match with Novak Djokovic. The Serb is now in the semifinals and is still on a path that could lead to his eighth Wimbledon title. Plus, Djokovic has been dealing with a knee issue of his own over the last month.

Alex de Minaur withdraws from Wimbledon due to a hip injury

He tore his meniscus at the French Open, had surgery shortly after getting hurt, and made it back in time for the next major. Djokovic does not seem worse off after the surgery, but he will now get three days of rest between his last match and the semifinals. The Serb will play the winner of the Taylor Fritz and Lorenzo Musetti match on Friday.

De Minaur said at a press conference announcing his withdrawal, "Obviously not an announcement I wanted to make, by any means. I'm devastated."

The Aussie was having his best season on the ATP tour. His run to the quarters at Wimbledon will push him to No. 6 when the new rankings come out next week. That is a career-high.

De Minaur also is the latest in a long sad string of players who have had to withdraw due to injuries during the Grand Slam. Aryna Sabalenka was going to try to give it a go but just ahead of her first-round match, she withdrew with a shoulder injury. Madison Keys was a service hold away from reaching the quarterfinals when she hurt her hamstring and had to retire.

Grigor Dimitrov hurt his leg in the fourth round and had to retire. The next day, Anna Kalinskaya retired in the fourth round with various ailments. Wimbledon has certainly taken its toll on players this year. Or maybe it's just the messed-up tennis schedule is causing players to get injured too often.

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