‘Ridiculous’: Tennis world reacts to Alex de Minaur disaster

Alex de Minaur’s Wimbledon charge ended with a whimper - and fans everywhere had the same reaction to the unbelievable development.

Alex de Minaur's pain is Novak Djokovic's gain. Pictures: Getty/AFP

Alex de Minaur’s Wimbledon charge has ended in disaster - and his Olympic hopes look shot - after the Aussie had to withdraw from his quarterfinal clash with world No. 2 Novak Djokovic with a hip injury.

The world No. 9 had reached the final eight at the All-England Club for the first time after a four-set victory over Frenchman Arthur Fils.

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But he heard a “loud crack” in his hip late in the match and sparked major concern by failing to celebrate his victory at all.

The worst news was confirmed on Tuesday, when scans revealed a tear in the fibre cartilage connected to de Minaur’s hip adductor.

“I am devastated,” de Minaur said.

“It’s no secret that this would have been the biggest match of my career but it’s a unique injury.

“I woke up this morning wanting to feel some sort of miracle, but there was a high risk of making the injury worse if I stepped on court.

“One stretch, one slide could take this from a three to six weeks’ injury to four months out. It’s just too much to risk.”

Fan uproar over ‘ridiculous’ development

Alex de Minaur's pain is Novak Djokovic's gain. Pictures: Getty/AFP

While there was an outpouring of sympathy for de Minaur, the overwhelming reaction on social media was the free pass handed to Djokovic.

Djokovic progressed to a 13th Wimbledon semi-final - matching Roger Federer’s men’s record - without hitting a ball as he closes on the Swiss great’s mark of eight singles titles.

The 37-year-old Serbian is also through to a record-extending 49th men’s Grand Slam semi-final, where he will face 25th seed Leandro Musetti who upset 13th seed Taylor Fritz in their quarterfinal 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 3-6 6-1.

The world number two - who had knee surgery last month - does not have a title to his name this year and is still seeking a first victory against a fellow top-10 player.

“It’s insane how many easy runs Djokovic gets, this is a grand slam and he won’t play a single top 10 player til the final ... ridiculous,” one fan wrote.

“Hurkacz got injured. Zverev got injured. De Minaur got injured. In the same tournament. They were seeded to face a certain player. Amazing,” wrote another.

We’re sure Novak Djokovic wasn’t complaining. Picture: Andrej Isakovic/AFP

Another fan commented: “De Minaur withdrawing is insane. What kind of luck has Djokovic gotten at Wimbledon these last few years it’s genuinely insane.”

Of course Djokovic fans were quick to point out he has more top 10 wins at grand slams (69) than either Federer (64) or Rafael Nadal (55).

Demon’s Olympic hopes look shot

De Minaur, 25, has had a giant-killing season, having even beaten Djokovic at the United Cup before the Australian Open.

But the injury blow has come at a horrible time, leaving his Olympic plans in disarray with just two weeks until the event kicks off.

He arrived at Wimbledon having made the quarter-finals at the French Open and with a grass-court title at ‘s-Hertogenbosh under his belt.

De Minaur didn’t look right after his fourth round win. Photo by Glyn KIRK / AFP

But he admitted to Nine’s Tony Jones that it would have been “almost disrespectful” to take on Djokovic not being 100 per cent.

He added while it was positive he was getting to the pointy end of tournaments, “it’s probably why it hurts so much more, knowing that I’m – I feel close, closer than probably ever before”.

The one piece of good news is that de Minaur will rise to world No. 6 after Wimbledon — a feat that only six Aussie men have achieved before.

Lleyton Hewitt, John Newcombe and Patrick Rafter all reached World No. 1, while Ken Rosewall reached world No. 2, Rod Laver world No. 3 and Pat Cash world No. 4 since the ATP rankings system was introduced in 1973.

- wiih AFP