Alex de Minaur has suffered a further setback with the No.5 seed forced to withdraw from the Olympic singles event.
The 25-year-old has been racing against the clock to be fit for the Paris Games after sustaining a cartilage tear in his hip which ended his Wimbledon campaign prematurely.
Opting not to take the risk, a rematch of the French Open third round between de Minaur and Jan-Lennard Struff is now scrapped, where the former defeated the German in four sets.
Earlier in the week on The ABC Tennis Podcast, two-time Olympian and former world No.33 John Millman was not fully convinced that de Minaur would be ready in time. "I spoke to Matt Reid [part of de Minaur's coaching team] and it [the hip] is a concern still," he said. "Obviously it was going to be touch-and-go with that type of injury. They were going to go out last night [Thursday night AEDT] to have a really good test out and see where it's at because Alex won't take to the court I don't believe unless he is 100 per cent ready to go.
"He doesn't want to risk re-injuring that, and he still potentially could be an alternate for the doubles or mixed doubles."
Having missed the 2021 Tokyo Olympics due to testing positive for Covid at the last minute, it means the Sydneysider will need to wait another four years until he can make his long-awaited Olympic singles debut.
Instead, attention now shifts to the doubles where he will partner world No.63 Alexei Popyrin for the green and gold.
The pair will clash against American duo Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in the first round.
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