{"id":360061,"date":"2024-01-15T10:32:58","date_gmt":"2024-01-15T11:32:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=360061"},"modified":"2024-01-15T15:02:13","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T15:02:13","slug":"werent-expecting-that-sad-retirement-puts-demon-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=360061","title":{"rendered":"'Weren't expecting that': 'Sad' retirement puts Demon through"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex de Minaur<\/a> is through to the second round of the Australian Open<\/a> after Canadian Milos Raonic was forced to retire hurt from their first round clash on Rod Laver Arena.<\/p>\n

De Minaur had just clinched the second set and was up a break<\/a> in the third when Raonic pulled the pin.<\/p>\n

He had been battling hip issues throughout the opening two sets, and earlier took an extended break off-court to have treatment.<\/p>\n

FOLLOW LIVE:<\/strong> 2024 Australian Open \ufeffday two<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Murray's retirement admission after thumping loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>Reporter can't cop Aussie star's Djokovic claim<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But the retirement itself caught many off-guard.<\/p>\n

"We weren't quite expecting that \u2026 that's sad," Todd Woodbridge said in commentary for Nine.<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Replays following his retirement showed Raonic wincing through his service motion, and his wife Camille was in tears in the stands.<\/p>\n

He was heavily limping as he walked up the tunnel off Rod Laver Arena. The 33-year-old has battled injuries throughout his career.<\/p>\n

"First of all I hope that Milos has a speedy recovery, it's not great to see him like this. He deserves to be healthy," De Minaur said in his post-match courtside interview with Jim Courier.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 Australian Open live and exclusive on Nine,<\/strong> 9Now<\/strong><\/a> and ad-free on<\/strong> Stan Sport<\/strong><\/a>.\ufeff<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Milos<\/p>\n

"I was chasing his serve for a better part of that match. I just focused on myself (in that) second set.<\/p>\n

"It's no secret I've started the year pretty well. Now it's all about keeping my head down. I do my best to let the tennis do the talking. Now, onto the next.<\/p>\n

"It's pretty simple, nothing changes. I still want to get better, I still want to improve."<\/p>\n

Earlier, the boisterous Rod Laver Arena crowd were silenced when Raonic's serve helped him clinch the first set in a tiebreak 7-6 (8-6).<\/p>\n

Raonic sent down nine aces in the first set, including seven in the first four games.\ufeff<\/p>\n

De Minaur left the commentators stunned when he somehow managed to return a 218km\/h \ufeffthunderbolt heading straight for his head back over the net.<\/p>\n

When he realised he was in an awkward position, he put his racquet in front of his face and let the pace of the ball do the rest.<\/p>\n

\"Demon's<\/p>\n

"Oh my goodness. That's called brace for impact. How did he even make this return?" A stunned Courier posed in commentary.<\/p>\n

"I mean it was self-defence, but he got it back in play. That's incredible!"<\/p>\n

Demon took an early break in the second set, although gave fans some nervy moments when from up 40-0, he blew three set points and was at risk of being broken back.<\/p>\n

"It's a queasy moment when you have had three set points at 40-0 up and it gets back to deuce," Courier quipped for Nine.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

A ripping forehand gave Demon a fourth set point, and he finally clinched it when Raonic missed a forehand wide.<\/p>\n

"That was a struggle," Woodbridge said.<\/p>\n

De Minaur broke Raonic again with the very first game of the third set, and then held comfortably before Raonic pulled the pin.<\/p>\n

The Aussie world No.10 will face Italian Matteo Arnaldi in the second round, likely on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex de Minaur is through to the second round of the Australian Open after Canadian Milos Raonic was forced to retire hurt from their first […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":360063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=360061"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":360068,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360061\/revisions\/360068"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/360063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=360061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=360061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=360061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}