Alex de Minaur didn't want to sugarcoat anything after suffering a disappointing US Open quarterfinal loss as the Australian tennis star admitted to "seeing red" and that he "wasted an opportunity" to finally make a long-desired Grand Slam breakthrough.
Going into his US Open match against 25th-seeded Felix Auger-Aliassime, de Minaur had been 0-5 in his Grand Slam quarterfinal matches. In the past, the world No. 8 faced some big names such as Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem in such matches. But this time, the Australian entered as the favorite to beat Auger-Aliassime and this was undoubtedly his best chance at making a Major semifinal.
Although de Minaur made a positive start, he failed to come up with the goods when it mattered the most in the remainder of the match and he paid the ultimate price as Auger-Aliassime came back from a set down to win 4-6 7-6 (7) 7-5 7-6 (4).
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De Minaur: I'm looking at this like a wasted opportunity
"Right now, I'm looking at this like a wasted opportunity. It's tough. There's no other way I'm probably gonna deal with this, but just seeing it straight, and that's what today was. Today was an opportunity to break new ground. I was nowhere near the level I needed to be at. That's frustrating, because you don't get these chances often," the world No. 8 admitted.
De Minaur's doubters love to bring up his Grand Slam quarterfinal record and claim that he is not a player capable of doing great things on the biggest stage.
"Yeah, I mean, it is very tough when you have worked so hard for something and you constantly are putting yourself in positions to, in a way, prove people wrong, right? But yet again, you kind of fall, and especially this time, it's a tough one to take," 26-year-old de Minaur said.
