(VIDEO) A slip, a ball kid, and an ovation: Tiafoe moment lightens tense Australian Open battle

The defeat of Frances Tiafoe in the third round of the Australian Open against Alex de Minaur left a funny moment following a tense exchange at a decisive point of the match. The American slipped and received help from a ball kid who approached to help him get back up after the fall.

The world No. 34 had been coming in good form from the early rounds, defeating Jason Kubler in straight sets and Argentine Francisco Comesaña in four sets. However, he still had his first top-10 challenge of the season ahead of him, which ended with him going down in straight sets.

De Minaur (No. 6) controlled the match from start to finish: a single break of advantage gave him the first set 6–3, while in the second he took a wide lead from the very beginning, and despite a late reaction from Tiafoe — who managed his first break of the match — De Minaur ultimately secured the second set 6–4 and built a comfortable advantage.

Already in the third set, De Minaur moved ahead to a 4–2 lead and everything seemed lost, but Tiafoe found a reaction in the final minutes, winning three games in a row to move ahead 5–4.

When the score was 5–5 and Tiafoe was serving (15–0), a long rally followed, in which a cross-court forehand from De Minaur opened up the court so much that Tiafoe ended up sliding and falling to the ground, although without any physical issues from the fall. It was then that the American remained seated on the court waiting for someone to come and help him up, and quickly a ball kid went to help him to his feet, sparking an ovation from the crowd at the funny moment in a tense phase of the match.

Tiafoe was unable to maintain the rhythm from that point on, and in that same game came the decisive break of the match. De Minaur moved ahead and then, with his serve, sealed the straight-sets victory against a complicated opponent, which sends him into the fourth round of the Australian Open for the fifth consecutive year. His next opponent will be world No. 10 Alexander Bublik.

Tiafoe exits the tournament once again without reaching the second week, something he has only achieved once in his 10 appearances: back in 2019, when he reached the quarter-finals. Since then, in his following seven participations, he has only reached the third round on two occasions and never the second week. Tiafoe says goodbye to Melbourne with a slight boost in the rankings that allows him to sit at No. 92 in the live rankings — marking his return to the top 30.

The next challenges for the American will be back in the USA, playing the Dallas Open and the Delray Beach Open — the latter where he won the title back in 2018. The 28-year-old player will look on American hard courts to rediscover his best form in the tournaments he will use as preparation for the March Sunshine Double.

On the other hand, De Minaur now reaches 21 wins at the Australian Open, where he is looking to break through the fourth-round barrier — something he has only managed once, back in 2025, although he ended up exiting in straight sets against Jannik Sinner.

He will face new top-10 player Alexander Bublik in search of a place in the quarter-finals. The Kazakh had never previously gone past the second round in Melbourne and had only three wins across his previous seven appearances. This year he has already improved his best results, has three wins in a row — without dropping a set — and will go in search of the quarter-finals, something he has only achieved once in a Grand Slam main draw, back in the 2025 French Open.

At the moment, the head-to-head is favourable to the Australian at 3–2, although Bublik came out victorious in their last two meetings, including the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters in October last year.