Wimbledon 2022: Alex de Minaur snubbed by Channel 9, loses in five-set heartbreak

Alex de Minaur was heartbroken after throwing away a golden opportunity to reach the Wimbledon quarters- and that was only half the story on a day of epic disappointment for the young star.

Channel 9 made the stunning call to abandon Australia’s No.1 men’s tennis player Alex de Minaur in favour of controversial star Nick Kyrgios on Monday night.

In a scheduling nightmare for the Australian television broadcasters, the fourth round clash for the duo overlapped.

It left Nine with the brutal call to leave de Minaur’s tense fourth-round clash with Christian Garin after the third set to show Kyrgios’s own round-of-16 match.

Nine has spurned Alex de Minaur for Nick Kyrgios.

It means not only did the world No.40 Kyrgios get priority access to Wimbledon’s famed centre court, he was preferred by Nine as the ratings draw card despite the network having invested more than two-and-a-half hours of airtime on the world No.27’s battle taking place on court two.

Deep in the third, Nine warned viewers that they would leave the de Minaur match at the set’s completion – desperately hoping the Australian would close out the match in straight sets.

As if nick Kyrgios didn’t already annoy me enough, Nine interrupts an enthralling Alex de Minaur game to go to Kyrgios. Demon’s in a real battle. Would rather be watching that #Wimbledon

— wally mason (@walmason) July 4, 2022

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Nine at least waited until the end of the set, host broadcasters in the UK the BBC immediately cut away to the Kyrgios match, prompting complaints from fans who were engaged in the match at a crucial point.

Roaring with delight after another big point. Picture: Getty Images

Garin rallied to win the third set tie-break and, rather than allow viewers to see the end of the match, they crossed directly to Kyrgios who had already fallen behind 2-1 to USA’s Brandon Nakashima.

Strangely, Nine didn’t give viewers the chance to switch to one of their other free-to-air channels to watch the other match live, instead opting for Law & Order on Gem and movie The Jackal on Go.

Stay up all night to support Aussies at Wimbledon to discover repeats of Law and Order (9Gem), Texas Flip N' Move (9Life), The Jackal (9Go), and The Last Alaskans (9Rush), oh and Kyrios on 9HD when De Minaur is up 2 sets to 1 in the 4th. Well done 9 not.

— Luke Anderson (@LAtwitsabit) July 4, 2022

Ironically had De Minaur won, he would have played the winner of Kyrgios’ clash with Brandon Nakashima in the quarter-finals — a match-up that would have been guaranteed to get full uninterrupted airtime on Australian television if it comes to fruition.

De Minaur shows plenty of sinew as he fires one back at Cristian Garin. Picture: Getty Images

In perhaps the ultimate insult, Nine cut away from a cross to the de Minaur match when the Australian had two match points in the fifth and deciding set to go back to a Kyrgios service game in the third set.

Channel 9 cutting away from De Minaur game at match point... 😂😂😂 What a joke #Wimbledon#Wimbledon2022

— Rye Smith (@ryesmithspruiks) July 4, 2022

Instead of waiting to see if the top rated de Minaur could ice the match, they left Aussie fans shocked at the audacity to skip a potential major moment.

When Nine eventually opted for a split screen, in the hope they’d capture the first Aussie into the quarter-finals, de Minaur fell and lost his second match point and appeared to injure his finger that was left bleeding.

Australian viewers were left to wonder what to make of the De Minaur drama, as Nine didn’t return to the action for several minutes.

Garin eventually levelled the match at 2-2 and went on to seal a thriller 10-6 in the fifth set tie-break.

At least Nine had the courtesy to show the final 10 decisive points of the match after sticking with the broadcast at 3-all in the tie-break – but only after Kyrgios had taken his own two-sets to-one lead.

Cristian Garin on the attack. Picture: Getty Images

Demon’s heartbreak

—Julian Linden

Alex de Minaur was inconsolable after blowing a two-set lead then two match points in a heartbreaking loss in the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Australia’s highest singles ranked player, de Minaur’s smooth run at the All England club came to a shuddering halt when he went down 2-6 5-7 7-6 6-4 7-6 to Chilean baseliner Cristian Garin.

“It was a tough match to lose, it was a big opportunity,” de Minaur said. “I’m probably not too happy with myself right now.

“I didn’t play the important points right. It’s been kind of a recurring sort of event for a while now, so it’s something I’ve got to improve on.

“At the end of the day, two sets to love up, had breakpoints in the third, had match points in the fifth. The match was full of chances, that’s for sure.”

The gut-wrenching defeat cost de Minaur the chance to join Nick Kyrgios in what would have been a blockbuster all-Australian quarter-final.

De Minaur crashed out of the event after holding a big lead. Picture: AFP

And although reaching the fourth round still represented his best performance on the Wimbledon grass, the 23-year-old said the cruel manner of his defeat would haunt him for a long time.

“Everyone is probably going to go out here and say ‘look, you’re happy with the week you have had a great week, try to take the positives out of it,” he said.

“But realistically, it stings, it’s not going to go away for a while. I’ll do my best to forget about it, but it’s probably not going to happen.”

Meanwhile Aussie battler Jason Kubler - whose inspirational run at Wimbledon ended when he was beaten 6-3 6-1 6-4 by American Taylor Fritz - took his loss much better.

Kubler had to come through the qualifiers just to make the main draw so was delighted to make the second week of a grand slam for the first time.

“I’m happy with the experience,” he said.

Brit tennis star Katie Boulter was there to support partner de Minaur, as was Aussie legend and mentor Lleyton Hewitt. Picture: Getty Images

“When I look back, it’s not going to be ‘damn, I lost’, it’s going to be, ‘I’m happy I got to play one of the biggest courts in the world, and I got to play Taylor who is playing very well at the moment and I fought till the end.’

“If anything, now I can build off this result and hopefully do some other things in the future.”

Kubler earned $337,000 for his week at Wimbledon - almost half as much as he had earned his entire career - but said the biggest thing he got was renewed belief in his ability after his promising career was derailed by years of injury setbacks, including six knee operations.

“I don’t know how good I can be, I don’t know if this is the max I will be, but it’s put a lot of confidence in the work I have been doing,” he said.

“If anything, I choose to believe I’m on the right track.

“So hopefully I can continue to do that, and then, hopefully the results come. They may not, but I’m pretty confident in the process I’m in at the moment.”

Originally published as Wimbledon 2022: Alex de Minaur snubbed by Channel 9, loses in five-set heartbreak