Thanasi Kokkinakis has been forced to withdraw from Wimbledon after slipping and injuring his knee.
The Aussie fan favourite pulled out of his second round match against France’s Lucas Pouille on Friday morning.
Kokkinakis won the first set but then injured his knee and had to retire with the score at 2-6, 7-5, 5-2.
Watch Wimbledon 2024 live and exclusively free on Nine and 9Now. Plus centre court in 4K UHD on Stan Sport, the home of grand slam tennis.
It means he will not play Alex de Minaur in round three.
“I’ve got to see tomorrow with some scans about the severity of it, but I know I have done a similar injury to what I have in Queen’s, but it feels a bit worse, my gut feeling, but I’ll find out more tomorrow,” Kokkinakis said after retiring.
“My next aim initially before I got injured was to play Atlanta next on the hardcourt swing [in late July], but I have to get an MRI to see if that is possible or not.”
Alexei Popyrin has set up a Wimbledon third round showdown with Novak Djokovic thanks to a gutsy five-set comeback win over Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
The Australian began poorly before finding his range with aggressive hitting to win 3-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in just under four hours.
Popyrin got off to the worst possible start, getting broken in his first service game and barely troubling the 30th seed’s own serve until the final match of the first set.
READ MORE: Alex de Minaur cruises into Wimbledon third round
The world No.47 bounced back into the second by breaking his opponent first up but the composed Argentine immediately broke back thanks to a Popyrin double fault.
Popyrin twice struck with a break on the final game of the set to win both the second and fourth.
But in between he lost concentration midway through the third, forcing the match to a decider.
The Sydneysider’s aggression appeared key to the win, sending down significantly more aces and dominating the winner count 65-39.
That proactiveness was particularly on show in the final set as he won four out of the last five games and rounded things out with a winner at the net.
On commentary for Nine, Sam Smith said it was one of the most mature and consistent performances she’d seen from the 24-year-old.
For his part, Djokovic had to grind out a 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 7-5 against young wildcard Jacob Fearnley in another test of his fitness following recent knee surgery.
The cheers from Centre Court could be heard around the precinct when the 22-year-old claimed the third set and
“I think all in all this match potentially deserved to get into the fifth, the way we both played, the way he played, particularly in the fourth,” the seven-time Wimbledon winner said.
“But I’m very glad it didn’t.”
Out on court 16, Adam Walton and giant killer Francisco Comesana produced a see-sawing five-setter worthy of a grander setting.
The Argentine, who knocked out sixth seed Andrey Rublev in the first round, eventually proved too good in swirling conditions, prevailing 7-5, 1-6, 6-7 (14), 6-1, 7-6 (8).