The Aussie will need all the help he can get against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon.
Daniil Medvedev has stunned Wimbledon having upset an unwell Jannik Sinner in the quarter-final to set-up a clash with reigning champion Carlos Alcaraz, while British tennis fans were urged to get around Alex de Minaur ahead of his semi-final match. Medvedev reached the semi-final of Wimbledon last year and will once again meet the Spanish champion having taken down the in-form Sinner in a five-set thriller.
Unfortunately, Sinner admitted to feeling unwell all day leading into the match and didn’t want to retire to give himself every chance of advancing. The Italian could be seen in discomfort on the bench at times as he took a time out in an attempt to regather his energy. It wasn’t enough with the Russian forcing the Italian to play long points on centre court.
“I was struggling physically,” Sinner said in his post-match interview. “I didn’t vomit but took some time because I was dizzy quite a lot. I was still in shape to play somehow. The energy level was not consistent. It was up and down but I was never thinking about retiring.
“Take nothing away from Daniil. I think he played very smart. He played good tennis.” Medvedev admitted he could tell Sinner was struggling during the match and took advantage of the drama.
“It’s always tricky, because you want to play more points to make him suffer a little bit more – in a good way – and at the same time, you know that at one point he is going to say, ‘OK, I can not run anymore so I’m going to go full power,'” Medvedev . “And that’s what he did.” Medvedev ended a five-match losing streak to the Italian to reach the semi-final. Although it doesn’t get any easier for the Russian.
Medvedev’s victory will now see a replay of his semi-final defeat last year against reigning champion Alcaraz. The Spaniard had a more straight-forward victory and admitted he was expecting another tough game against the Russian.
“The same semi as last year, hopefully I will get the same result,” Alcaraz said ahead of his blockbuster semi-final. “But he is a really great player and has just beaten the best player right now.” While one semi-final is locked in, the other is yet to be determined with de Minaur preparing for one of the biggest matches of his career.
Katie Boulter rallies around Alex de Minaur at Wimbledon
Another quarter-final was supposed to see Novak Djokovic take on Aussie de Minaur on centre court. But the 26-year-old withdrew on Wednesday night after the Australian injured himself on match point in his win over Arthur Fils. De Minaur hobbled off the court and admitted he had injured his hip.
“Obviously not an announcement I wanted to make by any means,” de Minaur said at a press conference at the All England Club. “Yeah, I’m devastated but had to pull out due to a hip injury.
“I felt a loud crack during the last three points of my match against Fils and got a scan yesterday. It confirmed this was the injury and with high risk of making it worse if I was to step on court.”
Partner and British tennis star Katie Boulter had earlier anointed de Minaur an ‘honorary’ Brit ahead of his showdown with the seven-time grand slam champion. With Boulter in his player’s box, de Minaur was set to receive a huge proportion of the support in his Wimbledon clash against Djokovic.
De Minaur was in pain after his incident on match point against Fils. Reports suggested the Aussie did not train on his day off as he looked to recover from the incident – but it wasn’t to be. Immediately after his injury the Aussie tried to brush off fears it would impact his performance against Djokovic. “I’ll be alright. I’ll find a way,” he said. “You can count on me going out there, trying my hardest and playing my heart out.”
Djokovic also entered the tournament with a knee injury, but has allayed fears heading into the quarter-final clash. “The knee has been really – knock on wood – really good. It did not react negatively to those few slips that I had today,” he said. “I’ve been really experimenting (with movement) because of cautiousness because of the knee. The first couple rounds I was still not maybe willing to go on extreme balls and slide and make splits, but last few matches I’ve done it.”
