De Minaur pulls out Open due to injury

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, who was also forced to pull out of this week’s Adelaide International, said he had suffered a “4cm Grade 2” abdominal tear when representing his country at the ATP Cup.

The 20-year-old, who reached the third round at Melbourne Park and won three ATP Tour titles in 2019, conceded that despite intensive treatment, he was just not in a position to compete at his home Grand Slam.

“It’s not a joke, it’s something real serious ... even getting out of bed hurts, everyday activity hurts,” he said.

“It’s not great, not going to lie.

“Obviously, it’s a week of the calendar that I really look forward to and put in all the hard work for, so it’s pretty devastating to miss out on my home slam.” So desperate was he to play, De Minaur pondered serving underarm but was persuaded not to take to the court for fear of making the injury worse.

“I just did not want to miss playing here,” he said.

“Even though it killed me, it’s the right decision. Now I’ve just got to look at what’s ahead.”

De Minaur said he first felt the injury early on in Australia’s ATP Cup campaign — in which he registered singles victories over Alexander Zverev and Denis Shapovalov — and did not regret playing through the pain in his country’s cause.

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.

“It is tough news, hopefully fingers crossed it’s nothing too serious and he can recover as soon as possible,” Kyrgios said.

Australian former world No 17 Bernard Tomic slumped out of the first round of qualifying at Melbourne Park this week, complaining of breathing difficulties due to the bushfire smoke.