"I’m sure you would’ve put up a better performance": Alex de Minaur's interesting response to fan who criticises his performance against Jannik Sinner

Australia’s Alex de Minaur had an interesting response for a fan who criticised him for his performance against Italy’s Jannik Sinner. The 25-year-old is regarded as the best Australian player currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category.

De Minaur’s journey in the ongoing Australian Open came to an end on Wednesday as he lost to the reigning world number one in the quarterfinal in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2, 6-1. It was his ninth defeat against the two-time Grand Slam winner in professional tennis.

De Minaur, after the match, was criticised by a fan on social media in a post on the social media platform — previously known as Twitter. "Alex De Minaur has zero self belief that he can even compete with Sinner let alone beat him. Awful performance from him,” the fan wrote. In response to that, the reigning world number eight had an interesting response for the fan. “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!!!"

De Minaur talked to the media after the match and admitted that playing against Sinner is perhaps his worst match-up. He also stated that there are positives despite the result but admitted that the defeat felt like a ‘slap’.

"Right now my worst match-up on tour is Jannik. The head to head doesn't lie," he said. "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. The positives, how I handled everything ... the fact that I came in this year as a top 10 with a lot of expectations, a lot of pressure. The whole country wanted me to do well. I wanted to do well here. I would have loved to do more today, but this is what happens sometimes in tennis. The negative is after playing some great tennis on home soil and gaining so much, you feel like you've just been slapped across the face, to be honest, to finish off like that."