Alex de Minaur was dealt a crushing blow as he was forced to retire in his China Open final against Novak Djokovic.
The two men played out a competitive first set, which Djokovic edged in a closely-fought tie-break, but both men suffered straight afterwards.
Djokovic called for a medical timeout for a suspected shoulder issues. While the Serbian was being examined, de Minaur also went off court with a trainer.
The two men played out one more game, before the Australian retired from the match to give Djokovic the seventh China Open title of his career.
Sky Sports Tennis’ Jonathan Overend suggested it was a groin injury for de Minaur and now the Australian has confirmed the extent to which he is injured.
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Asked if he had an injury issues leading into the final during a post-match interview in Beijing, de Minaur said: “No, I wasn’t. I was feeling quite good, then I felt something midway end of the first set. Yeah, it gradually got a little worse.
“Felt something in the adductor. I don’t know what it is yet. I’ve got to get some more scans,” continue the Australian, before he addressed his immediate plans.
Many thought de Minaur was all-but-confirmed to miss the Shanghai Masters, which is set to begin on Wednesday, 7th October, but the star has confirmed he will travel to the Chinese city.
“My plan is to go to Shanghai and get scans,” he said about his potential appearance at the penultimate Masters event on the ATP Tour calendar.
Despite his injury, de Minaur remained upbeat about his performance against Djokovic in the China Open final.
“Yeah, I mean, everything except for the end was really positive,” he explained. “There was a lot of good tennis. I played some great stuff. Felt amazing on the court. Yeah, a lot of confidence from this first week.”
De Minaur currently sits at world No 9 in the ATP Tour rankings, so he still has an outside chance of qualifying for the ATP Finals at the end of the year.
However, if his injury is in anyway serious, it would likely rule him out of playing the year-end tournament.
Considering the star was so quick to retire from the China Open final, one would suggest that the Australian will not be able to play for the remainder of the ATP Tour season.
Should de Minaur end his season right now, he will do so having one won ATP Tour title. That came in Rotterdam in February, after he beat Felix Auger-Aliassime in the final.
