Australian Alex de Minaur had to withdraw from his Wimbledon quarter-final match against Novak Djokovic due to a hip injury.
The 25-year-old made this heartbreaking decision one hour before his scheduled court date.
His withdrawal means that seven-time champion Djokovic is in the semifinals.
A devastated de Minaur confirmed he would not be able to play, while the injury also puts his participation in the Olympics in doubt.
“Of course, this is not an announcement that I necessarily wanted to make,” De Minaur said at a press conference at the All England Club.
“Yes, I am devastated, but I had to give up because of a hip injury.
“During the last three points of my match against Fils, I felt a loud crack and had a scan yesterday. This confirmed that this was the injury and that there is a high risk of it getting worse when I step on the court.
“It’s no secret that at that point in my career it was the biggest game of my career.
“I knew the results yesterday, but I was hoping that I would wake up today and feel some kind of miracle.
“The problem for me when I go out and play is that a strain, a slip, anything can extend the injury from three to six weeks to four months.”
De Minaur sustained the hip injury while winning the last point of his fourth-round match against Arthur Fils.
He caught up as he secured a thrilling four-set victory over Fils, finishing with an angled drop volley at the net after a forehand buildup.
He didn’t celebrate, which may have been because he was simply relieved to have won (after blowing a two-set lead), but more likely because he knew at that moment that he was hurt.
He walked stiffly to his chair, looking more like he had lost the game than won, and then sat there lost in thought for a few minutes.
At the time, he said: “I’m fine. I’ll find a way. You can count on me to go out there, do my best and play with all my heart.”
A few hours later, he added that his hip was “a little red,” but “it’s probably more of a little scare than anything else.”
This Wimbledon saw several injury-related withdrawals and cancellations, the most notable from an Australian perspective being Thanasi Kokkinakis’s loss against Lucas Pouille after a bad fall.
Pouille then gave up before he even took to the court against De Minaur.
In addition, Grigor Dimitrov, Hubert Hurkacz, Madison Keys and Anna Kalinskaya, among others, retired during their matches, while Alexander Zverev suffered the effects of an earlier fall in his fourth-round loss to Taylor Fritz.
– With AAP