Alex de Minaur considers himself lucky to have progressed to the last 16 at Wimbledon without hitting a ball on Saturday after his opponent Lucas Pouille withdrew prior to play beginning.
As talented Frenchman Arthur Fils, who is the Australian’s next opponent, was forced to work overtime to defeat Roman Safiullin in five sets on a wintry day, de Minaur jumped on the practice courts for an extended training session before hitting the gym for a while.
“I’m definitely lucky,” he said.
“Probably the times that this goes the most noticed is when you have days like today where the weather is just not good, or even tomorrow.
“I’m definitely lucky that this has happened and I can switch off and already look forward to the next match and kind of put some work into preparing for that.
“I went from having to have probably a very long, stop-start day waiting at the courts, to being able to move on quite quickly and get ready for the next one.”
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As reported by foxsports.com.au prior to the match on Saturday, Pouille injured abdominal muscles during his match against Thanasi Kokkinakis two days ago and had considered withdrawing before the South Australian slipped and injured his knee.
The French veteran underwent scans on Friday in London and decided against taking the court against the No. 9 seeded de Minaur early on Saturday, with the Australian praising the sportsmanship of his rival given the difficulty of the circumstances.
“I found out probably around 9.15am,” he said.
“I was doing my physical warm-up before my on-court warm up and Lucas came to me and just let me know that he was injured and he wasn’t going to play.
“I think it was a class act by him, letting me know early in the day, especially with the weather forecast showing it could be delayed for a long time.
“I’m wishing him a quick recovery. And as me, I’m probably a little bit relieved, just because everyone knew the type of day that was coming, that it was going to be a long one and I was able to finish quite quickly.”
It is the second time de Minaur has reached the fourth round at Wimbledon and the world No. 9 will be seeking to fare better against Fils than in 2022 when he held match points before falling in a super tiebreaker to Cristian Garin.
But the Rd of 16 test will be tricky as de Minaur seeks to reach the quarterfinals of a grand slam for the second major in succession after his run to the last eight in Paris.
Fils, a 20-year-old ranked 34 in the world who ousted former Wimbledon semi-finalist Hubert Hurkacz in the second round, defeated the Sydneysider in straight sets earlier this year in Barcelona and is considered one of the brighter emerging stars in tennis.
“He’s coming with a lot of confidence, obviously beating Hubie which is a very good one on the surface. He’s got a big game (and) big groundstrokes,” de Minaur said.
“In previous years, I probably wouldn’t have thought that he would have enjoyed the grass as much, but he’s obviously enjoying it quite well and feeling comfortable on it. So he’s going to be very tricky. He’s got a great serve as well and he’s an overall great athlete.”
But de Minaur is also feeling more comfortable in his surroundings and declared; “This is where I’ve wanted to be.”
“You never know. Things don’t always go to plan. The first week of a slam is about doing anything you can to stay alive,” he said.
“Then once you’re able to … get through that first week, I feel like it’s a completely new tournament, the second week. It’s when you know everything starts to click.
“You start to feel more comfortable with the conditions, the atmosphere, the balls, your tennis, your game itself, and it’s when you’ve got to bring your A game, because you’re getting to the deep end of these tournaments and playing the best players in the world.”