Injury forces Alex de Minaur to skip Adelaide International

Alex de Minaur played his guts out in Sydney but strained an abdominal muscle in the process.

Alex de Minaur explains why he has pulled out of the Adelaide International. Picture: Getty Images

Alex de Minaur played his guts out in Sydney, strained an abdominal muscle in the process, flew to Adelaide, went to Memorial Drive, politely withdrew from the event in which he was the top seed, jumped on another plane to Melbourne and set about finding a way to keep pushing his body and brain to bursting point without the constant aggravation of injuries.

No one fell into the River Torrens from shock when de Minaur followed Novak Djokovic in pulling the pin on the Adelaide International. Neither of them suffered a lack of match practice at the ATP Cup.

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When de Minaur played the two most electrifying sets of his life against Rafael Nadal, he ­declared he had discovered the blueprint for the rest of his career: swing for the fences, the demons might care, celebrating like there was no tomorrow.

Maximum energy. Crazed emotion. Aggressive demeanour. Sleep when he’s dead. Putting every fibre of his being into every stroke of every rally of every point of every game of every set of every match in every tournament. But there was a problem with that. He had to do it again this week. And next week. And most weeks of the year. Sustainable?

“I have reaggravated a past ­injury so I have had to withdraw from Adelaide,” he said. “It’s devastating because it’s been a part of my schedule for a long time, and I was really looking forward to playing. But I have got to take care of my body. Obviously I’m not in the happiest mood but it’s something that happens. I aggravated a bit of an ab injury. I have just got to do whatever I can to make sure my body recovers.

“Right now my sole focus is on making sure I recover. I feel like I have had a great week at the ATP Cup. I played some great tennis and lots to learn from. It’s a level I knew that I could bring and it’s a level that I need to bring out every time on the court. So there’s been plenty to learn from. I’m very ­excited for what is to come.”

De Minaur’s absence in Adelaide potentially opens the top half of the draw for Australia’s ­Jordan Thompson, who was scheduled to meet de Minaur in round two if he slogged his way past Albert Ramos-Vinolas in his opening match.

Asked if he was in doubt for the Australian Open, de Minaur said: “At the moment we’re going to take it day by day. It’s something that is not ideal. At this stage we’re just looking at short-term goals and trying to get better each day. A lot of treatment. I have seen the physios. I have seen the doctors. I will be continuing to do that for the whole of next week and hopefully I will be ready to play in ­Melbourne.”

The setback might be a blessing in disguise for the 20-year-old. He reached the quarter-finals of last year’s Brisbane International and then won the Sydney event, which left him knackered before the Open even began.

He’s spent a lifetime being told he lacks the basic requirements of a major champion — the power-laden game, etc — and he might revel in playing the Open in the role of wounded warrior. “I have used a lot of stuff that people have told me I wasn’t able to do,” he said.

“I have used that as drive and motivation to improve in those areas. I have often been told that I don’t have the weapons to beat these higher-level guys, but I think I have sort of showed that I have got another part of my game that I can go to. And just overall, mentally, physically, I think it’s just a constant work in progress. I’m going to keep on improving and keep on getting better and hopefully keep on breaking barriers.”

Thompson, 25, said of de Minaur: “When we were younger I tried to help him out as much as possible. I’m a few years older than him and I think he looked up to me and now I’m looking up to him.

“Last year he turned his year around. He had a great start then through the middle it wasn’t going as well. He turned it around in style, played unreal, made the final of Basel and the final of the Next Gen and won all his matches for us in Davis Cup. He’s been outstanding. I’m proud of where he is and I just want to try and be like him every week. What he does on the court is unreal. What he does off it as well — he works his butt off.”