Australia’s world No 7 Alex de Minaur has become the latest player to withdraw from the Cincinnati Masters in a move that means he will have missed both of the Masters events in the US Open series.
De Minaur also skipped the Olympic singles after he suffered a hip injury during his run at Wimbledon with that niggle derailing a campaign that was going very well for the 25-year-old.
He could not make it to Canada to defend the points he gained from his appearance in the final at last season’s Masters event and could drop out of the top ten next week depending on how other players get on.
De Minaur took part in the Paris Olympics in the doubles draw but hasn’t played singles since his fourth round win over Arthur Fils at Wimbledon.
“Yeah, 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,” De Minaur said as he pulled out of Wimbledon
“I felt a loud crack during the last three points of my match against Fils and got a scan, and it confirms that this was the injury and with, yeah, high risk of making it worse if I was to step on court, so yeah.”
He updated fans on his status after announcing that he would skip the Canadian Open and will now miss the Cincinnati Masters as well.
The injury is a tricky one and not something that De Minaur has suffered before making his schedule for a return uncertain.
“This is a completely unique, new injury that they’ve got very little research on. It’s four years worth of research. Therefore, that’s why they couldn’t give me an approximate on recovery time. It’s more just a little bit of hope, wait and see,” De Minaur said
“So, yeah, it’s quite a unique injury. I’m hoping the pain goes down with a bit of rest, and then ultimately it’s kind of working against the clock to get back as soon as possible.”
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There are three events on the ATP Tour that still need to be completed before the US Open is up on deck with Cincy followed by the Winston-Salem ATP 250 tournament.
The US Open is scheduled to get underway on 26 August 2024 and concludes with the men’s singles final on 8 September.
De Minaur joins Novak Djokovic in skipping the Cincinatti Masters while a few other top players could be in doubt.
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