Alex de Minaur confronts hard truths after Jannik Sinner demolition before torching journalist

Having already admitted some hard truths to the press following his brutal quarter-final loss to Jannik Sinner, Alex de Minaur was in no mood for one line of attack from a journalist on social media.

Alex de Minaur has attacked a pseudo-journalist and Novak Djokovic superfan over criticism in the hours after his brutal straight sets defeat to Jannik Sinner.

The Australian, still smarting from the 6-3 6-2 6-1 beatdown on Rod Laver Arena, took to social media where he bit back at stinging criticism from Twitter user Pavvy G – a tennis blogger with a sizable following of 28,000 followers who proudly boasts of being ‘anti-establishment’.

“Alex De Minaur has zero self belief that he can even compete with Sinner let alone beat him. Awful performance from him,” the user wrote midway through the one-sided match.

It was a comment that de Minaur could not let go.

“Hey mate it’s a shame that you never became a good enough player to experience playing Jannik,” he wrote.

“I’m sure you would’ve put up a better performance and know exactly how to beat him. Wishing you all the best!!!”

Hey mate it’s a shame that you never became a good enough player to experience playing Jannik. I’m sure you would’ve put up a better performance and know exactly how to beat him. Wishing you all the best!!!

— alex de minaur (@alexdeminaur) January 22, 2025

It is the second time this week that de Minaur has fired back at a fan on social media, having similarly taken umbrage to a social media sledge from during his match against Francisco Cerundolo.

Speaking after his horror quarter-final loss to defending champion Sinner, a shattered de Minaur said he felt like he had been slapped across the face.

Australia’s best player said he simply had no answers to the world No.1 who has now defeated him 10 times in a row.

“It’s been too many times playing him and seeing the same thing,” De Minaur said. “So I’m not even surprised anymore when I face him. Matches like these happen.

Jannik Sinner has de Minaur’s number. Picture: Michael Klein

“Obviously the whole country wanted me to do well. I wanted to do well here.

“I thought I handled it really well to put myself in this position. I would have loved to do more today, but this is what happens sometimes in tennis.

“Look, the negative is after playing some great tennis on home soil and gaining so much, you feel like you just have been slapped across the face, to be honest, to finish off like that.

“I guess the other positive is it’s not the first time that I’ve felt that. I felt the same thing when I played Novak (Djokovic) a couple of years ago.

“So, hey, I’ll survive. I’ll keep improving. And if anything, I just need to sit with my team and figure out a way to hurt Jannik on the court. 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. As I said, I still don’t think this is my ceiling. I still think I’ve got more in the tank. So I’ll be searching for that.”

De Minaur has made the final eight at his last four Grand Slams. Picture: Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP

De Minaur said Sinner was by far his worst match-up particularly when conditions were cooler and slower like they were on Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday night.

“By match-up, I think he’s probably my worst matchup, and you can see it in the head-to-head,” he said.

“In these types of conditions it’s even tougher to play against him. So you go out there, you compete, you try everything. You bring every sort of different look that you can.

“But in these types of conditions where it’s a little bit colder and you can’t really get the ball out of his strike zone, he can just unload and not miss. It’s tough.

“You know, I think if we’re playing in the middle of the day on a stupidly hot day, then that’s when you can see some errors come out, and that’s when you probably see Jannik not play at his best. But conditions like today, it’s tough to rattle him at all.”

De Minaur, who moved to No.7 in the world rankings and has now made the quarter-finals at the last four grand slams, believes he still has the scope to make it to the final Sunday.

“Tennis is so much about matchups, right? If I’m in a different side of the draw, a different little section, then who knows?” he said.

“I genuinely think I’m going to give myself opportunities, and I don’t think my peak is making quarterfinals in a slam.

“I see other players that have made it further, have made semis, have made finals, and I do believe that I can be amongst them, right? If they have been able to accomplish that, then why not me?”