Lucas Pouille has withdrawn from Wimbledon ahead of his third round match with Alex de Minaur.
Pouille has revealed he was suffering with injury in the last round against Thanasi Kokkinakis, before the Australian ironically retired hurt.
“My whole team was telling me ‘Retire, stop’ at 6-2,” he told reporters. “I said to myself: ‘If you get broken, you stop’. I was afraid of getting worse. What if I was going to tear everything away. I was told to give up so as not to jeopardise the summer.”
The development could cause chaos with the schedule. Pouille has pulled out after the draw was rejigged, with organisers putting him last out on court three to allow him time to recover.