A devastated Alex de Minaur says he'll seek daily treatment on an abdominal injury in the hope of playing in the Australian Open starting next week.
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Australia's top-ranked player has withdrawn from the Adelaide International, which was to have been his final preparation for the Open.
De Minaur stopped short of declaring himself a certain starter in Melbourne.
"At the moment we're going to take it day by day," he told reporters in Adelaide on Monday.
"It's something that is not ideal. And at this stage we are just looking at short-term goals and trying to get better each day (with) a lot of treatment.
"I have seen the physios, I have seen the doctors, and I will be continuing to do that for the whole of the week and hopefully I will be ready to play in Melbourne."
The flare up of the injury comes after de Minaur played five matches over nine days at the ATP Cup, which included a doubles encounter.
The 20-year-old, the top seed at the Adelaide International after last week's withdrawal of world No.2 Novak Djokovic, was devastated to pull out of the tournament.
"Obviously I am not in the happiest mood," de Minaur said.
"But it's something that happens ... I have just got to do whatever I can to make sure my body recovers.
"And right now my sole focus in on making sure I recover for my next one (tournament)."
At the ATP Cup, de Minaur won two singles matches and pushed world No.1 Rafael Nadal to three sets in Australia's semi-final loss to Spain last Saturday night in Sydney.
"I have often been told that I don't have the weapons to beat these higher-level guys," he said.
"But I think I have sort of showed that I have got another part of my game that I can go to ... I'm going to keep on improving and keep on getting better and hopefully keep on breaking barriers."
Wildcard James Duckworth was the only Australian in action in the ATP singles draw on Monday, beating Argentinian qualifier Federico Delbonis 6-4 6-4 to advance to the second round.
In the doubles, Australian pair Lleyton Hewitt and Jordan Thompson lost to Chile's Cristian Garin and Argentina's Juan Ignacio Londero, who prevailed 6-3 2-6 then 10-7 in a super tiebreaker.
Australia's Alex Bolt and Alexei Popyrin also suffered a defeat against Argentina's Maximo Gonzalez and France's Fabrice Martin, who won 6-4 6-3.
Australian Associated Press
