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Australia's hopes of finally seeing their wait for a men's Wimbledon champion end this year were dashed in the cruellest possible fashion as Alex de Minaur's bid for glory was killed off by injury.
De Minaur had looked highly impressive in progressing through to the quarter-finals, only to be unable to take to the court against seven-time champion Novak Djokovic due to a hip injury.
The Sydney native currently believes that he will be sidelined for somewhere between three and six weeks, meaning that his involvement at the Olympics is almost certainly ruled out, with the Paris Games beginning later this month.
De Minaur could also face a race to be fit for the final Grand Slam of the season, with the US Open getting underway on Monday 26th August and he has now drifted out to 67.00 to triumph at Flushing Meadows.
De Minaur "devastated" to pull out
Things went wrong for De Minaur just as he was closing out a four-set victory over Arthur Fils in the fourth round, with his winning volley met not with celebration but with a resigned walk to his chair and a shake of his head towards his coaching team.
His worst fears were then realised by a scan and he was unable to take to the court for what would have been the third Grand Salm quarter-final of his career to date.
He admitted after confirming his withdrawal: "I haven't really been able to enjoy what I've achieved this week. In the grand scheme of things it could have been worse, so I'm trying to hold on to that.
"They haven't been able to tell me a definitive recovery plan because it's such a unique injury. Right now, it can be anywhere from three to six weeks, it just depends how quickly my body heals."
De Minaur was already the final Australian left in either the men's or women's singles draws before his untimely exit, having continued to impress in what is most definitely the best season of his career so far.
He began the year with a run to the fourth round of the Australian Open for the third year in a row, before shocking most observers by reaching the last eight at the French Open, seeing off Daniil Medvedev to do so.
He had repeated that run at SW19 before being struck down by injury, having performed strongly enough to be the ninth seed at Wimbledon.
US Open bid in some doubt
De Minaur's current prognosis means that he should just about be fit for the US Open start in late August, but the timeframe is tight and his preparations will be severely limited even if he returns to action sooner rather than later.
Flushing Meadows was the scene of the first of his three runs to a Grand Slam quarter-final back in 2020, with his progress halted in straight sets by eventual champion Dominic Thiem.
The Aussie had reached the fourth round of a major for the first time at the US Open a year months prior to that, while 12 months ago he again made his way through to round four.
On that occasion Medvedev was far too strong as he ran out a 2-6 6-4 6-1 6-2 winner, before going on to suffer a third US Open final defeat.
As with Wimbledon, Lleyton Hewitt is the last Australian man to win the US Open title, back in 2001, and the chances of De Minaur breaking that drought now appear to have taken a massive hit.
