Home hopes dealt blow as Alex de Minaur pulls out of Australian Open
World No 21 Alex de Minaur was forced to pull out of the Australian Open on Thursday with an abdominal injury, robbing the men’s singles draw of one of its strongest local challengers. The Australian No 1 aggravated the abdominal strain during the ATP Cup and was also forced to pull out of this week’s Adelaide International.
The 20-year-old, who reached the third round at Melbourne Park and won three ATP Tour titles last year, conceded that despite intensive treatment, he was not fit enough to compete at his home Grand Slam. “Even getting out of bed hurts,” he told reporters at Melbourne Park. “Even though it killed me, it’s the right decision.
“It’s pretty devastating to miss out on my home slam. I wanted to go out there and play, even though I’ve got a 4cm grade-two tear. It’s not a joke – it’s something really serious... Pretty much everyone around me told me that I shouldn’t play and I was still planning on going out there and, if need be, serving underarm or at 120kph or do whatever I can. I just did not want to miss playing here. But the long-term risks if it got worse [were too great], so it was the smart decision and the right decision.”
While local Ash Barty will be top seed in the women’s singles, Nick Kyrgios will now be the top ranked Australian in the men’s draw at world No 26. Australian former world No 17 Bernard Tomic slumped out of the first round of qualifying at Melbourne Park this week complaining of breathing difficulties in the bushfire smoke.
Kyrgios completed his Open warmup with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov at the Kooyong Classic,
delivering 13 aces in a commanding performance. Afterwards he said was “shattered” to hear de Minaur had been unable to recover in time, crediting his Australian teammates in the ATP Cup for his positive start to the year.
“The ATP Cup was an amazing event, just to spend the first couple of weeks with the boys, some of my closest mates,” he said after his Kooyong win. “I think we all rub off on each other, we all bring some good energy.”
Kyrgios was a first-round casualty at Melbourne Park last year, with his best result coming in 2015 when he made the quarter-finals. But he felt like he is playing well enough to again go deep.
“I feel like it’s a new year, a clean slate, but I was putting a lot of work in back home,” the 24-year-old said. “I’m not going to put too much pressure on myself. Looking back at 2019 it was very tough for me on and off the court and this year I want to have a positive outlook on it whether I lose first round or make a run. The way I’m playing now I feel like I can make some strides into the tournament.”
He also said his involvement in raising money for victims of the bushfire crisis had been his main focus, and he would be playing next week for that cause as much as himself. A tweet from Kyrgios during the fires started an avalanche of donations with the tennis community raising almost $5m.
“It was crazy that a kid from Canberra put out one tweet and it gathered that much traction and within a couple of weeks it was amazing how many people worldwide were willing to help,” he said. “It’s been an emotional couple of weeks for me. All I’m doing and all I’m playing for is that at the moment.”
With a 16-week ATP suspended sentence and fine hanging over his head, which won’t apply during the ITF-run Australian Open, Kyrgios has been on his best behaviour so far this summer.
He said he wanted to be a better role model for kids and would do his best to stay out of trouble during the Open. “I’ve got to try and control my temper for sure but at the end of the day I’m human,” he said.