"This is something that I can’t take any chances with" - Alex De Minaur opens up on the hip injury that forced his UTS withdrawal

After a strong performance at the recent Shanghai Masters, tennis star Alex De Minaur announced his withdrawal from his next event, the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS). Initially opting to not go into details regarding his surprising withdrawal, the Aussie star finally broke his silence on the nature of his injury.

De Minaur looked to be in good shape during his run in Shanghai. The seventh seed had not dropped a set en route to the quarterfinals, where he faced former World No.1 Daniil Medvedev, who had just been through a three-set slugfest in the previous round.

Nonetheless, it was Medvedev who prevailed, recording a 6-4 6-4 win over the Australian. De Minaur showed no signs of injury during the match, and shocked the tennis community when he announced he would not be participating at the subsequent UTS event in Hong Kong, where he is the defending champion.

The Ultimate Tennis Showdown exhibition event is an international individual tennis league that was founded in 2020. It showcases eight ATP stars battling it out in an interactive tournament that features unique rules and scoring methods.

Although De Minaur traveled to Hong Kong with the intention of competing at the UTS event, he was unable to play through the pain. The 26-year old expressed his frustration at not competing in front of the fans, but acknowledged the hip injury was an area of concern.

"I wanted to come out and compete," said De Minaur. "That’s why we travelled here to Hong Kong. We came on site, we tried to do some work to see if I could go out there and compete but sadly it’s too much pain.
"It’s a hip injury, the one I sustained last year after Wimbledon which sidelined me for a long time so it is an area of concern. So this is something that I can’t take any chances with.
"Last year it sidelined me for almost three or four months, and I played the rest of the year with pain. Now, it’s warning signs, I need to make sure everything is good. I don’t want to have the same problem as last year. I need to be smart and look after the body."

The World No.7 admitted to feeling discomfort towards the end of his run at the China Open in Beijing, but pushed through the pain. However, it worsened during the Shanghai Masters, with De Minaur finally deciding to get some imaging done at the conclusion of the tournament. Although he has yet to make a decision on how his season ends, the Aussie star hopes to be able to compete at the year-ending ATP Finals in Turin.