Injured star Alex de Minaur plans on avoiding the Australian Open

Alex de Minaur is still dealing with the disappointment of missing his home grand slam, and as part of his mental and physical recovery, plans on avoiding the whole tournament.

Injured Alex de Minaur has declared he will avoid watching the Australian Open and instead prioritise his “sanity” and recovery from a serious injury in the next fortnight.

The Australian young gun was forced to withdraw from the year’s first grand slam on Thursday because of an abdominal tear.

The 20-year-old admitted that while he would endeavour to check scores every now and then, he would not be watching.

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Alex de Minaur won’t feature in the Australian Open. Picture: AAP Images

“I’m going to disconnect, switch off for a bit, and worry about my recovery. I’ll keep a close eye on results, but I won’t be watching much tennis,” de Minaur said.

“That’s for my own safety and keeping sane. At this stage, it’s probably not what I want to be looking at and watching.

“I’ll just worry about my things, worry about my rest and my recovery and hopefully I’ll be back in four weeks’ time.”

After a busy few weeks of ATP Cup commitments, de Minaur joked that he “might have some time, now” to actually switch off and binge a few Netflix series instead.

The world No.21 joined 10th-ranked Frenchman Gael Monfils on Friday to launch the Asics Gel Resolution 8 and Art of Footwork in Melbourne.

He conceded that despite the overwhelming pain of his injury, he had been unable to help himself from testing his limits.

“Being the super competitor I am, I’ve already been shadowing the service motion just to try out and see how it can go,” he said.

“It’s still obviously a bit painful, but I’m sure it will get better with rest and recovery I’ll be back to my old self in no time.”

He said his ATP Cup and Davis Cup teammate Nick Kyrgios had received “a tough draw” when the first round of match-ups was completed on Thursday night, but backed him to take it to the world’s best in Rafael Nadal should the pair both progress to the fourth round.

“I think Nick’s in a good head space,” he said.

“He’s playing some great tennis at the moment and I think he’s feeling good. Hopefully his body can pull up and he can go out there and just show what he can do. Hopefully the whole Australian crowd is behind him.

“It’s going to be a very interesting match (if he faces Nadal) – a popcorn match. But before that, he’s got (Karen) Khachanov who’s a hell of a player and is ranked higher than him. It’s going to be a very tough draw for him, but hopefully he gets to the level where he plays Rafa and I’m sure it will be an amazing match.”

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De Minaur – who is tipping Novak Djokovic and Ash Barty to salute in Melbourne – will return home to continue his recovery as he eyes an added event to his already busy calendar later this year – the Tokyo Olympics in July.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to attend,” he said.

“It’s going to be one of those moments where I’d have to pinch myself, because you never think of these things until they actually happen. I’m really looking forward to it.”

Originally published as Injured star Alex de Minaur plans on avoiding the Australian Open