Alex De Minaur sparked an injury scare after reaching the Wimbledon quarter finals for the first time.
I’m just excited to be in the quarter-finals, have another battle and give myself a shot Alex De Minaur
The Australian ninth seed beat France’s Arthur Fils 6-2 6-4 4-6 6-3 in close to three hours on No. 1 Court.
De Minaur certainly had cause to celebrate as he had just missed out on a last-eight spot two years ago.
But the 25-year-old raised concerns as he shook his head to his player’s box on returning to his chair, maintaining a straight face.
Even when the crowd acknowledged his efforts he merely shuffled back onto court and slightly raised a finger. A smile was nowhere near his lips.
It seemed as if he had damaged an ankle on match point sealing the victory.
The 25-year-old said: “I’ll be all right (for the quarters). I’ll find a way. One thing you can definitely count on is me going out there, trying my hardest and playing my heart out. I’m just excited to be in the quarter-finals, have another battle and give myself a shot.”
He added to the crowd: “The atmosphere was unbelievable. I can be proud of myself to be in the quarter finals of Wimbledon, playing in front of you guys, so thank you.”
What pleased him most about his performance? He said: “Getting over the finish line. I definitely made it a lot harder than I should have. Happy to get through. Great job mentally to stay with it even though I couldn’t serve at the end. I couldn’t hold my serve, I just backed my returns instead. On to the next.”
Minaur was well rested going in. He had a walkover in round three when his scheduled opponent, Fils’ compatriot Lucas Pouille, withdrew. And that came on the back of two three-set victories in the opening rounds.
With girlfriend, British No.1 Katie Boulter looking on, the 2016 boys’ finalist displayed how much he had grown up.
De Minaur had his eye in from the start, racing to a 4-0 lead in the opening set playing steady tennis before clinching it.
Fils had also benefited in his previous round when opponent, seventh seed Hubert Hurkacz, retired injured 2-1 down in sets.
And he had had a breakout 2023 aged 19 last year to raise the expectations, coming into the tournament world No.34.
The fan of grime star Stormzy battled back and played up a storm to go 3-0 up in the second set. But De Minaur rode it and regained control to break the 20-year-old twice to double his set advantage.
De Minaur secured an early break in the third set and looked set to cruise home. He was even close to taking a 4-1 lead.
But Fils changed the momentum by lessening his number of unforced errors and serving better to roar back, breaking his Australian opponent for 4-4. He was aided by De Minaur seemingly tightening up with the finishing line in sight.
The Frenchman was pumped up and held to force De Minaur to serve to save the set. He didn’t as Fils got his Exocet forehand working. And France’s No.4 milked the moment when he sealed it by encouraging the crowd to applaud him.
But his bubble burst when broken in the first and fifth games of the fourth as De Minaur took a 4-1 lead.
Again, De Minaur appeared to tense up and was broken. And although he broke the Frenchman in the next game, his own serve collapsed again as he served for the match. Fortunately for the Australian, his opponent’s serve continued to be brittle. And De Minaur completed the victory with a superb winning backhand cross court volley on the Fils serve seeming to tweak an ankle doing so.
Alex de Minaur acknowledges Arthur Fils efforts
(Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
