“Pulled up a little lame”: De Minaur to meet Djokovic at Wimbledon… but he’s dealing with a niggle

Alex De Minaur is through to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon after beating Arthur Fils overnight - 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

The 25-year-old Australian defeated the Frenchman in four sets to reach the final eight at the All England Club, but it gets no easier with seven-time champion Novak Djokovic awaiting him in the next phase.

Despite advancing past Fils, De Minaur will take a niggle into the clash with Djokovic after hurting his hip on match point which preceded a somewhat sombre celebration.

“I just slid out to a forehand, it felt like I jarred it a little bit,” De Minaur said on Channel 9.

“(My hip) kind of was a little bit ginger. It's probably a little bit of a scare more than anything. The match had a lot of drama and that just added to it.

“I’m feeling pretty decent. My body went through a pretty physical match out there, and it feels a little bit ginger everywhere - I’m not going to lie.

“I’ve done my recovery. I'm sure I'll be feeling great tomorrow.”

SEN tennis expert and The First Serve’s Brett Phillips provided some insight into De Minaur after his victory and injury.

“It was just on the back of one point which was a magnificent match-point lunging forehand volley which was beautifully executed,” Phillips said on SEN Breakfast.

“He pulled up a little lame. It was a subdued reaction from Alex. He went to the net and shook hands, sat in his chair and looked over at Lleyton Hewitt and Adolfo Gutierrez, his coach.

“I looked at him at the time and he looked like Casper The Ghost. He was just thinking, ‘Oh, I think I’ve done something serious here’. But the media clip with Tony Jones (on 9) and in his press conference he certainly downplayed it. He had spent some time on the physio table.

“It’s going to be a tough assignment to play Novak in a quarter-final. Whatever pain he is feeling - and he’ll likely play it down and we don’t quite 100 per cent know - but Alex with a day off should be able to recover ok and see if he can have a tilt at the greatest of all-time (Djokovic).”

Of De Minaur’s chances against Djokovic, Phillips added: “This is the first time he’s best-equipped to take on Djokovic in a Slam, other times he hasn’t been.

“Let’s see how he goes.”

The other men’s quarter-finals will see world No.1 Jannik Sinner (1) up against Daniil Medvedev (5), Carlos Alcaraz (3) v Tommy Paul (12) and Lorenzo Musetti (25) v Taylor Fritz (13).

In the women’s draw, Jelena Ostapenko (13) will meet Barbora Krejcikova (31), Elena Rybakina (4) plays Elina Svitolina (21), Jasmine Paolini (7) up against Emma Navarro (19) and unseeded pair Lulu Sun v Donna Vekic.