Alex De Minaur's Australian Open Dreams Shattered by Jannik Sinner

Alex De Minaur's Australian Open campaign ended in disappointment with a quarter-final loss to Jannik Sinner, leaving him feeling humbled and defeated.

Alex De Minaur's Australian Open campaign came to a crushing end on Wednesday, as he suffered a humbling defeat at the hands of Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals. The 25-year-old Australian was thrashed 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 in just an hour and 48 minutes, extending his country's wait for a homegrown Grand Slam men's singles champion since Mark Edmondson's triumph in 1976.

De Minaur's defeat was his 10th in as many meetings with Sinner, taking some shine off an otherwise impressive fortnight for the world number eight at Melbourne Park. Despite the disappointment, De Minaur chose to focus on the positives, telling reporters, “The positives, how I handled everything... 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.”

However, De Minaur couldn't hide his frustration at the manner of his defeat, saying, “The negative is after playing some great tennis on home soil and gaining so much, you feel like you've just been slapped across the face, to be honest, to finish off like that.” This feeling of dejection was not new to De Minaur, who recalled a similar sense of disappointment after losing to Novak Djokovic a couple of years ago.

De Minaur vowed to bounce back from the defeat, stating, “I'll survive and keep improving. I need to sit with my team and figure out a way to hurt Jannik on the court.” He acknowledged that he needed to find new ways to challenge Sinner, adding, “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.”

De Minaur remains confident in his abilities, insisting that he has more to give. “I don't think that this is my ceiling. I've got more in the tank,” he declared, already looking forward to his next challenge.