Alex de Minaur pulled out of the 2024 Paris Olympics, which is unfortunate for him, but it also put the bizarre rule that Novak Djokovic called out under the spotlight again.
There were a few really bizarre situations at this year's Paris Olympics, mostly caused by the late withdrawals, which were made after the draw. In itself, that is not that strange because players withdraw out of tournaments all the time.
So, what's the big problem at the Olympics? It's something Djokovic called out a few days ago: how the singles players are replaced in the draw. They're not replaced by other singles players but instead by doubles players who are in the doubles draw.
To Djokovic, that simply didn't make any sense and isn't great for the product because it forces players who don't play singles to play them, and generally, it doesn't go that well. We've seen in the Serbian's match how Matthew Ebden couldn't challenge him, and that was simply not good to see.
Therefore, another singles player's withdrawal highlighted the problem again. De Minaur joined the list of players who pulled out of the event, as the Australian Olympic Committee confirmed his withdrawal on the day he was supposed to play his singles match at the event.
The withdrawal comes from a hip injury that de Minaur picked up at Wimbledon in a bizarre way. He extended on the net, trying to get the ball, and finished the match, but he injured his hip in the process, forcing him to abandon playing in the next round.
It was clear that the hip injury was not yet fully healed, so de Minaur opted against playing singles, but he will still play at the Games in doubles.
"De Minaur has been rehabbing a hip injury he sustained during the fourth round at Wimbledon. Despite doing everything possible to get himself ready to play singles at the Olympics, it arrives too soon."
"His first-round match was scheduled for later today (Sunday 28 July) against Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany. He will prioritise men’s doubles alongside his childhood friend, Alexei Popyrin."
It's been a tough time for de Minaur, who has been generally playing really well in 2024. The problem for him is that he ran into some physical issues, which prevented him from extending this good run.
The Roland Garros was a good event for him. He looked great on grass, but then the bizarre hip injury destroyed all of that. Hopefully, he will be ready for the US Open stretch because he can do some damage there, but only if he's fully healthy.
Hip injuries have been notoriously tricky for tennis players to deal with.
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