De Minaur rues Sinner mauling: “You feel like you’ve been slapped across the face”
The Australian described the world No 1 as his worst match-up but vowed to continue to improve
@Julien Nouet/Tennis Majors
Alex de Minaur said he felt like he’d been “slapped across the face” after he was unceremoniously hammered by world No 1 Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Wednesday.
De Minaur came into the match knowing it would be tough, with a 0-9 record against the Italian and so it proved as the defending champion stormed to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 mauling.
The Australian, who will rise to a career-best No 7 on Monday, said he was proud of how he handled the expectations of the home crowd, desperate for a first Australian men’s champion since 1976, but said Sinner made him feel distinctly ordinary.
“I thought I handled it really well to put myself in this position,” a candid De Minaur said. “I would have loved to do more today, but this is what happens sometimes in tennis.
“Look, the negatives is after playing some great tennis on home soil and gaining so much, you feel like you just have been slapped across the face, to be honest, to finish off like that.
“I guess the other positive is it’s not the first time that I’ve felt that. I felt the same thing when I played Novak a couple of years ago. So, hey, I’ll survive. I’ll keep improving. And if anything, I just need to sit with my team and figure out a way to hurt Jannik on the court. That’s ultimately the way we’ve got to look at it and find different ways because at the moment we don’t have it. So back to the drawing board, like I’ve done my whole career.”
“He’s probably my worst match-up”
De Minaur admitted he didn’t know how he could hurt Sinner on the court, the Italian at his absolute best, crunching winners on both sides and serving brilliantly throughout.
“I’m going to be completely honest and transparent,” he said. “It’s tough. Honestly, it’s tough going out there and playing someone like Jannik because ultimately, I think there are a lot of factors that are vary into the scoreboard today. But matchup. I think he’s probably my worst matchup, and you can see it in the head-to-head.
“In these types of conditions it’s even tougher to play against him. So you go out there, you compete. You try everything. You bring every sort of different look that you can. But in these types of conditions where it’s a little bit colder and you can’t really get the ball out of his strike zone, he can just unload and not miss. It’s tough.
“You go into the match, and you know it’s going to be a battle, it’s going to be tough, you’re going to try different things. But then you’re an hour and 30 in, and you’re struggling to win games, and you’re trying to find ways to get on the board. It’s pretty surreal.”
“He comes out of the blocks so well”
De Minaur had the crowd on his side but they were quickly silenced by Sinner, with the early breaks in every set snuffing out any belief they might have had that there could be an upset.
“It’s frustrating that I can’t do it,” he said. “I’m doing my best, but I can’t make it into even a match where the crowd can get behind and start supporting, you know?
“That’s what he does so well. He comes out of the blocks in the sets so well. Whenever we played, it feels like the first three games, four games he gets the early break, right, and then all of a sudden we never really end up getting to later stages of sets where all of a sudden you can have scoreboard pressure, all of a sudden the rallies can get a little bit tense, and I can ask more questions and get the crowd involved, and all that kind of stuff.”
“I don’t think this is my ceiling”
But despite the manner of the defeat, De Minaur said he would continue to do what he’s always done, work as hard as possible and try to go one stage better than the quarter-finals, having made the last eight in each of the last four slams.
“It is disappointing,” he said. “I don’t want to leave like this, but yeah, I can only get better and come back stronger next year. I still don’t think this is my ceiling. I still think I’ve got more in the tank. So I’ll be searching for that.”
People in this post
More tennis news
Brilliant Sinner crushes De Minaur in quarter-final rout
Shelton joins Djokovic in condemning Australian Open broadcasters: “Shocked with how players have been treated”
“Ruthlessness is not my goal” – Swiatek shrugs off negativity
Djokovic: “People are constantly trying to undermine my achievements”
“If there was a better option, tennis would use it” – Swiatek on video review
