‘I left my heart out there’: de Minaur rues missed chances, eyes Wimbledon with confidence

Australia’s ascending tennis star Alex de Minaur will return to the top 10 next week and is already eyeing the grasscourt season after his brilliant Roland-Garros run ended in the quarter-finals.

De Minaur is projected to rise two spots to an equal-career-high ranking of No.9 despite losing 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to fourth-seeded German Alexander Zverev in an engrossing contest that was closer than the straight-sets scoreline suggested.

Alex de Minaur departs centre court after losing to Alexander Zverev (right) at Roland-Garros.Credit: Getty Images

The Sydneysider regretted not capitalising on a series of opportunities to gain a foothold in the match in the second set, from a set point on Zverev’s serve in the 12th game to 4-0 and 5-3 leads in the tiebreak.

De Minaur’s inability to win easy points on his first serve – which is improved but still not a strength – proved a thorn in his side throughout the match, particularly in key moments, which he blamed in part on the cooler night conditions.

Zverev, on the other hand, escaped trouble repeatedly with big first serves from his 198-centimetre perch to book a fourth consecutive Roland-Garros semi-final, against Casper Ruud, as he chases an elusive maiden major title.

“I’m extremely proud of my efforts throughout the two weeks, and even today I think I put up a hell of a fight in adverse conditions against a quality opponent,” de Minaur said.

“I had my chances, and probably should have taken the second set. I think we would have been in for a proper battle [if I had]. But I left my heart out there, I did everything I could, and it just wasn’t good enough.

“Sometimes on this surface, days like today, conditions like today, I just struggle a little bit more. I’m still happy with the way I showed up … [and there is] lots to learn from.

“These are the matches I want to be playing, and I think it shows the development and jump I’ve made as a player to be able to come out here and make quarters on my least-favourite surface [and] that I’m ready to take it to whoever, and I’m going to give it my best against whoever.”

The other men’s semi-final will feature second seed Jannik Sinner, who will replace Novak Djokovic on Monday as the No.1 player in the world, and third-seeded Carlos Alcaraz.

De Minaur was the first Australian man to go this deep at the claycourt grand slam since former world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt two decades ago, but fell short of matching fellow great Pat Rafter’s semi-final effort from 1997.

This fortnight provided further affirmation that de Minaur has joined the tour’s elite, and his new ranking presents an opportunity for him to earn a top-eight seed for Wimbledon, particularly with Djokovic in doubt after knee surgery.

A top-eight seeding would mean de Minaur, a strong grasscourt performer, avoids facing a higher-ranked opponent until a potential quarter-final.

His best result at the London slam was reaching the fourth round two years ago, when he lost from two sets up against Chilean Cristian Garin with a last-eight berth in sight.

De Minaur rarely shows emotion on the court, but there were moments in the quarter-final where he got revved up.Credit: Getty Images

“I sure hope I’m not running as much on the grass,” de Minaur said.

“I’ll do my best to try to dictate a little bit more, and I’m hoping that my ball is going to penetrate a little bit more. But, yeah, I’m excited for the grass, and excited to let the surface help me out a little bit out there.

“It’s always a great part of the season for me, which I’m always looking forward to. We’ll see how it goes this year because I’ve never gone so deep here in [Paris], so hopefully that takes a lot of momentum and confidence on to the grass.”

De Minaur and Zverev traded breaks in the third and fourth games of the match, and the dogged Australian consistently made the German work hard on serve but double-faulted to gift his rival a 4-3 lead that he converted into a one-set advantage.

Even then, Zverev showed outward signs of frustration in the early stages of the second set, with little separating the pair.

De Minaur had to rely on winning a steady diet of second-serve points against Zverev to hang in the match – even more so after falling a set and a break down, but he broke back then earned a set point in the 12th game that would have seen him draw level.

He almost secured it, too, guessing the right way on a Zverev overhead before narrowly failing to keep his down-the-line forehand in the court.

Zverev survived that tense moment, plus a time violation shortly after, to force a tiebreak, but fell 4-0 behind, only to reel off seven of the next eight points to claim the second set, including a nerve-jangling 39-shot rally at 5-5.

De Minaur said post-match he rued his “routine” backhand slice miss at 4-0 as much as any, and felt he was “unlucky” in some other clutch points, but that Zverev deserved to win.

Losing the second-set tiebreak was a decisive moment, given de Minaur has never recovered from a two-set deficit.

What was a line-ball showdown suddenly tilted significantly in Zverev’s favour, and another de Minaur double fault left the Australian with a lot of work to do at 2-4.

A break-back point went begging in the next game, but de Minaur’s never-say-die attitude came to the fore as Zverev served for a semi-final spot. Zverev double-faulted to fall into a 0-30 hole, then faced another break point three points later.

This time, de Minaur nailed a superb drop volley winner to extend the contest and trigger everyone in his player’s box to raise to their feet.

However, it was only a stay of execution. De Minaur edged 30-15 ahead, but three straight errors proved his downfall as Zverev upped the ante.

De Minaur hit more winners than Zverev (28-20) – eight of them volleys and another four on exquisite drop shots – but also committed more unforced errors (53-48), including some at costly junctures as he tried to dictate from the baseline.

Earlier, in the women’s draw, second-seeded Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka battled illness as she suffered a shock 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4 quarter-final loss to Russian prodigy Mirra Andreeva.

Andreeva, 17, will face 12th seed Jasmine Paolini in the last four, where she will become the youngest major semi-finalist since Martina Hingis reached that stage at the US Open and Roland-Garros as a 16-year-old in 1997.

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