Weird question about Alex de Minaur’s engagement irritates fans

Alex de Minaur was left wincing and viewers shared their irritation after Carlos Alcaraz was forced to comment on the Aussie’s engagement.

Tennis fans have been sharing their frustration after Carlos Alcaraz was asked to comment on Alex de Minaur’s future marriage.

De Minaur on Wednesday night caused a minor upset when he defeated the world No. 3 7-5, 4-6, (10-5) during a charity event for the Australian Tennis Foundation at Rod Laver Arena.

The two players were speaking with former German tennis star Andrea Petkovic during their on-court interview when it turned awkward as the subject twisted towards the Australian’s love life.

De Minaur and partner Katie Boulter announced their engagement in December — much to the delight of their fans.

Alcaraz was put on the spot to “congratulate” de Minaur and the awkward question has irked tennis fans.

“This is a chance for Carlos Alcaraz to congratulate you on your engagement right now,” Petkovic said.

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The Spaniard’s reply was not as cool, calm and comedic as some of the earlier answers given.

“I mean I already told him congratulations,” a smiling Alcaraz said.

“I don’t know if you are sure about it.”

The comment left the crowd laughing and also left the four-time grand slam champ blushing as he bumbled his way through his response.

Carlos Alcaraz laughs with Alex de Minaur. Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images.

“No, I mean, I’ve seen them in tournaments. I don’t know Katie very much, but it seems she’s a really nice person so I think you’re going to enjoy this marriage. Hopefully everything’s going to be good. And, yeah, congratulations.”

As the crowd laughed at the response, Alcaraz gave a light-hearted defence of his comments.

“As you said, I’m too young. I’m too young to do it,” he said.

Tennis fans on Reddit were not impressed.

“That’s such a awkward question to ask, WTF,” one posted.

One wrote: “It’s a really awkward question. Like, ‘Hey go congratulate him on his engagement in front of 50000 people’. Even worse since it seems like they’re not close enough for Alcaraz to even know Katie so he literally has nothing to say except Congratulations.”

Another posted: “It was more like a forced demand to congratulate someone in front of an big crowd”.

De Minaur was more suave than his opponent on and off the court on Wednesday with the 25-year-old pulling off a promising victory as he heads into the Australian Open seeded inside the top eight for the first time in his career.

Carlos Alcaraz walked into an ambush.

The Demon is aiming to improve on his 2024 Open performance, where he made the fourth round and lost coincidentally to Rublev in four sets.

He went on to reach the quarter-finals of the following three grand slams during a stellar season, but could have progressed further at Wimbledon had a hip injury not forced his withdrawal ahead of a showdown with Novak Djokovic.

The same injury forced him out of the Paris Olympics singles draw and hampered him during the straight-sets quarter-final loss to Jack Draper at the US Open weeks later.

But De Minaur said he was confident any issues with his body were behind him leading into the first major of 2025.

Katie Boulter kisses Alex de Minaur before the start of the United Cup. Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP.

“The biggest thing that’s back is my movement,” De Minaur said on Tuesday.

“That’s something that suffered a little bit of a hit after the injury last year.

“I’m excited for what’s to come. I’ve been playing some great tennis. The body feels really good.

“I’ve tweaked a couple of things – I’m trying to get a little bit stronger, trying to get a couple more free points on serve.

“Hopefully I’m a better version of myself than I was last year and I can go out there play some good tennis … and hopefully go deep (into the Open).”

The most important part of de Minaur’s improved ranking is that he will not face an opponent seeded higher than him until at least the quarter-finals.