Novak Djokovic secured his passage into the semi-finals of the Wimbledon tournament without throwing a shot on Wednesday after his quarter-final opponent Alex de Minaur withdrew with a hip injury.
De Minaur, the ninth seed at the All England Club, announced his decision hours before his match against Djokovic, which was scheduled to take place on Centre Court.
Djokovic will therefore face Lorenzo Musetti on Friday, with a place in the final at stake. The Italian, 25e The tournament’s top seed, reached the semi-finals of the Wimbledon tournament for the first time in his career, after overcoming American Taylor Fritz 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 3-6 and 6-1, after a marathon three hours and 27 minutes on Court No. 1.
Musetti, a 22-year-old tennis player, had never made it past the third round at the All England Club — or the fourth round at the other three Grand Slam tournaments — before Wednesday.
“He probably knows the surface and the stadium better than I do,” Musetti said with a chuckle, after realizing he would play his first match on Centre Court on Friday. “He’s a legend wherever he goes, but that’s especially true here at Wimbledon.”
Musetti’s victory over Fritz, the 13the seeded, was 37e to be acquired in five sets at Wimbledon this year, a record in a major tournament.
Djokovic, the second seed, has won seven of his 24 career Grand Slam titles on the Wimbledon lawn. He will play in the semifinals at the All England Club for the 13e time in his illustrious career – equalling Roger Federer in this regard – and the 49e times in total in Grand Slam tournaments, improving a mark that already belongs to him.
The seriousness of de Minaur’s injury was confirmed after medical tests on Tuesday, the Australian said, but he wanted to see the process through to the end and find out whether he would be fit to play or not. However, it became clear during a warm-up session on Wednesday morning that he would not be able to face the Serbian.
He said he was having difficulty walking. It would have been de Minaur’s first match in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. He had reached that stage of the competition at the French Open last month, too.
“There’s no doubt about it; at this stage of my career, it would have been the biggest match. So I wanted to give it my all before I pulled out,” he explained. “I knew the results of the tests yesterday. [mardi]but I still wanted to let the night pass and hope that some kind of miracle would allow me to walk normally, without pain, when I woke up this morning.”
He mentioned that doctors told him he could potentially aggravate his hip injury by playing another game.
“The problem, if I had decided to play, is that a slip, or the slightest unusual movement, could have turned my recovery period of three to six weeks into a four-month convalescence,” he continued. “The risks were too great.”
Under a blazing sun on Court No. 1, Fritz, an American who is one of the most powerful hitters on the circuit, is now 0-4 in Grand Slam quarterfinals. For his part, Musetti has generated 13 break points, converting six of them.
The crucial break came after a forehand winner from Musetti gave him a 2-0 lead in the fifth set. The Italian followed up with another break a few minutes later to extend the lead to 4-0.
Musetti admitted he had to shake off some nerves early in the match. An early break of serve in the second set allowed him to find his rhythm.
“It changed my mindset. It changed my attitude,” Musetti said. “That’s probably what made the difference.”
Both players played a rather conventional game. They were content to exchange powerful forehands from the baseline until one of them cracked. Musetti, however, managed to pull himself out of the game by making some nice drop shots, sometimes following up with passings or some lobs.