"Gutted" Australian riser Aleksandar Vukic is to have an MRI scan on an injury he was carrying in his first-round defeat at the French Open, but he's confident he'll be fit for Wimbledon.
The 28-year-old admitted after his defeat to China's Zhizhen Zhang on Sunday that he had taken a risk playing the match at all after he had almost pulled out on the eve of the contest with an adductor injury.
After talking with his team, the Sydneysider, who's enjoyed a promising 2024 campaign headlined by his brilliant effort in defeat against Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells, decided to go ahead, only to lose 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-5 with his somewhat restricted movement.
But world No.89 Vukic was left relieved that he had not exacerbated the problem, insisting: "For Wimbledon, I've no doubt that I'll be fine by then.
"It feels like it's like on the verge of being a bad one. There was a chance to make it worse, but we took the risk, and I don't think it has got any worse. So I think it's still all very manageable," said Vukic.
"Credit to him (Zhang), he deserved to win it but I'm very gutted. I had a decent clay swing and put myself in position after the first set, but couldn't get over the line."
Vukic revealed the injury had occurred on Friday after he had been exercising, and it was so uncomfortable that his team had considered him pulling out against Zhang, the 27-year-old from Shanghai, who's risen to No.44 in the world.
"I'm getting an MRI tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes. Hopefully it's not too bad but there's definitely some discomfort," said Vukic.
"It had crossed my mind the night before about pulling out. I couldn't lift my leg up, just sitting down. So I was like, 'how am I gonna play four hours tomorrow?' So in a way, it was very positive to get four sets with it."
After nine weeks in a row on the clay, though, that's enough red-stuff slog for Vukic this year.
"The best feeling is throwing away the clay shoes at the end, they're disgusting right now! So that's the first thing I'm going to do when I get back in my room and then it will be on to the grass courts - less grunting, more serves ... it's a nice switch."
