Novak Djokovic suffers injury scare as 43-match win streak in Australia ends with Alex de Minaur defeat

Novak Djokovic struggled with a wrist injury as he slipped to a straight sets defeat to Alex de Minaur in the United Cup – his first defeat in Australia since 2018, when he fell to Hyeon Chung at the Australian Open.

The first rubber of the United Cup quarter-final between Australia and Serbia, it was de Minaur, the world no.12, who edged the host nation ahead in the tie with his first career victory over the 24-time Grand Slam champion, avenging his Australian Open defeat of last year, which ended 6-2 6-1 6-2.

De Minaur earned the biggest win of his career to date in one hour and 34 minutes, to give Australia first blood in their tie with Serbia, before the women’s singles match between Ajla Tomljanovic and Natalija Stevanovic.

The Australian won 33 of 34 points on his first-serve, asserting his authority through his accuracy. His service dominance was further highlighted by the fact that Djokovic did not have a single break point on the de Minaur serve, while the Aussie took two of his five break opportunities.

Djokovic had held well at 4-3 in the first set, but had treatment on his wrist at the following changeover, and then once more after de Minaur had earned himself a break at 4-5.

The Serb continued to have his wrist iced at the changing of ends, and he withstood the pain to keep parity in the second.

De Minaur broke away in the seventh game, but let nerves get the better of him as he tried to serve it out, dropping all three of his match points at 40-0, a shanked Djokovic backhand long on the following advantage saw the decibel level in the arena crank up, as the home favourite celebrated a huge victory.

“It’s extremely special,” de Minaur said afterwards. “Novak is an unbelievable competitor and what he’s done for the sport is pretty special. It feels surreal; it feels amazing. I’m happy to do it here in Perth and in Australia.

“[The defeat at the Australian Open] couldn’t get any worse, I guess. Ultimately, when you go out against Novak, you have to try and enjoy it, and back yourself no matter what, fighting until the end. Today was my day and I’m happy to get the win. This one definitely means a lot.

“It comes from a lot of people not believing in me. I’m here to prove a lot of people wrong, trying to keep getting better. Ultimately, I’m never going to be the biggest or strongest guy so I’ve got to adapt and show that I have variety in my game and that I have different styles of playing tennis, and I’m glad I was able to bring this level today.”