"I don't feel great" - Alex de Minaur offers brief injury update after first ATP retirement in over nine years

It was an anti-climax ending to the China Open final. Alex de Minaur retired from his first ATP tennis match for over nine years to hand Novak Djokovic a seventh title. His initial reaction to the defeat has sparked a lot of concern, with him briefly addressing it in his post-match speech.

After the first set went the way of Djokovic, both players were bruised and battered. The Serbian got a medical timeout with him having struggled near the end of the set, despite producing some scintillating tennis.

The Beijing crowd would be surprised to see that de Minaur also needed medical attention, serious enough to see him wander off the court. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary after de Minaur won the first game of the second set with some cracking points, coming back from 15-30 down. However, a shake of the head confirmed everyone's worst fears.

He retired from the final whilst trailing 7-6(3), 0-1. It was a bitter ending to a tremendous week where he was starting to find his old self on court after a torrid period. He still managed to muster up a smile ahead of his speech, speaking to the stunned and disappointed crowd who were hoping to watch more of the enthralling final.

"I don't feel great," he began. "Look, first of all, congrats to you [Djokovic], mate, to you and your team. It was pretty amazing, as a fan of the sport, to watch the tennis you produced this whole week. Wishing you nothing but the best, so well done."

He was very apologetic to everyone involved in the event. Bizarrely, the last three matches of the tournament ended without a match point. Hubert Hurkacz retired against de Minaur in the first semi-final before Daniil Medvedev got himself defaulted in a dramatic episode against Djokovic. The Aussie's retirement is the first on the ATP Tour since the 2017 Sydney International. He tried to battle on and put on a show, but this time he was unable to.

"As for me, I want to say sorry to all the amazing fans that came to watch this match. I wish I could have... I didn't want to finish like this, so really, really sorry. To my team, the people that are here and the people that are back home, thank you for all the support. It's been a great week and I'm sure there's plenty more to come."

He vowed to return to the event in the future. "To everyone who made this amazing tournament possible, I would love to come back. Thank you all and hopefully see you next year."

With the Shanghai Masters starting tomorrow, de Minaur can now be classed as a huge doubt for the tournament. It is the penultimate Masters 1000 event of the season and a hugely important one with an abundance of points on the line.

De Minaur is desperate for a return to the ATP Finals for the third year on the spin. After losing his first five matches in the tournament, he pulled off a miracle in his final match to send himself into the semi-finals before losing to Jannik Sinner.

Depending on the injury layoff and results around him, his late ressurgence may be halted. Sitting in 10th, Djokovic has since overtaken him thanks to that title triumph. This is very important with Sinner having announced his intentions of skipping the rest of the 2026 season. This includes his ATP Finals title defence, meaning the player in ninth place will also be in the hunt.

Depending on when he can return and how his form is, the 27-year-old may have seen his Turin chances go up in flames. Time will tell with him set to play against either Alex Molcan or Federico Cina in his opening Shanghai test, if he turns up, of course.