Alex de Minaur said a humbling defeat by Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Wednesday felt like a slap across the face after a period of improvement in which he emerged as his nationβs best hope of ending a major drought.
De Minaur crashed to a 6-3 6-2 6-1 defeat by the defending champion in an hour and 48 minutes, ensuring his countryβs wait for a homegrown Grand Slam menβs singles champion since Mark Edmondsonβs triumph in 1976 would continue.
A 10th defeat by Sinner in as many meetings took off some sheen from an otherwise strong fortnight for the world number eight at Melbourne Park.
βThe positives, how I handled everything β¦ the fact that I came in this year as a top 10 with a lot of expectations, a lot of pressure. The whole country wanted me to do well. I wanted to do well here,β De Minaur told reporters.
βI would have loved to do more today, but this is what happens sometimes in tennis.
βThe negative is after playing some great tennis on home soil and gaining so much, you feel like youβve just been slapped across the face, to be honest, to finish off like that.β
De Minaur said he had felt similar dejection after a loss to 24-times major champion Novak Djokovic a couple of years ago.
βIβll survive and keep improving. I need to sit with my team and figure out a way to hurt Jannik on the court,β he added.
βThatβs ultimately the way weβve got to look at it and find different ways because at the moment we donβt have it. So back to the drawing board, like Iβve done my whole career.