Alex de Minaur drops huge news about US Open participation amid concerns over injury
The Aussie tennis star has been battling a hip injury.
Alex de Minaur has confirmed he will make his return from injury at the upcoming US Open as he looks to put a niggling hip injury in the rearview mirror. The Aussie has not played a singles match since suffering a hip cartilage tear in the final game of his last 16 win over Arthur Fils at the All-England Club in July.
That injury saw him ruled out of his quarterfinal Wimbledon clash against Novak Djokovic and despite entering the singles draw at the Olympics just weeks later, he withdrew on the eve of the match. He still competed in Paris alongside his childhood friend, Alexei Popyrin but the pair crashed out in straight sets to Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram.
In the doubles match, the Aussie wasn't moving well at all, clearly still hampered by the hip injury. And after crashing out of the Olympics, he withdrew from the Cincinnati Masters, sparking fears he may not take his place in the US Open field. However, on Wednesday De Minaur confirmed he will be ready to go for the final major of the season beginning on August 26.
"Little update. Been working hard trying to recover from my injury. It’s been very tough missing tournaments and excited to say I’ll be playing (in the) US Open," De Minaur wrote on Instagram. "Thanks to all the support I’ve gotten, it’s definitely helped me through these tough times. There’s always light and the end of the tunnel."
Alex de Minaur in danger of slipping out of top ten rankings
De Minaur holds a 36-12 record for the season, with title wins in Acapulco and at the Libema Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch highlights of his 2024 campaign. And while he currently sits eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as he looks to qualify for the Nitto ATP finals for the first time, he is currently in danger of slipping out of the top ten rankings, with his place in the ATP finals also in jeopardy if he doesn't have a strong finish to the season.
The 25-year-old, who peaked at No.6, currently sits at No.10 on the live rankings and could slip out of the men's top ten if he doesn't make a deep run at the US Open. Stefanos Tsitsipas and American Taylor Fritz are both in prime position to take the Aussie's top ten spot in the coming weeks, if they can put together some strong performances.
This is due to de Minaur being unable to defend the 750 points he earned for reaching finals in Los Cabos and Montreal last year and missing Cincinnati means he will drop even more rankings points. Stefanos Tsitsipas is hot on his hammer, currently No.11 in the world.
He is currently competing at the at the Cincinnati Open, while American Taylor Fritz had the chance to overtake de Minaur with a deep run in Cincinatti but he was knocked out in his round of 32 match against Brandon Nakashima. However, even with a win in Cincinatti, Tsitsipas won't have enough points by the time the US Open draw takes place to take the Aussie's top ten seed.
But if either he or Fritz makes deep runs at the US Open and de Minaur is knocked out in the early rounds, the Aussie will slip out of the top ten. Last year de Minaur was knocked out of the US Open in four sets in his round of 16 match against former World No.1 Daniil Medvedev.
