"Worst take I’ve ever seen": Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis defend Alex de Minaur amid criticism from fans on social media after defeat to Jannik Sinner

Australia’s Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis defended fellow countryman Alex de Minaur, who received heavy criticism after a disappointing outing against Italy’s Jannik Sinner. The reigning world number eight suffered a straight-set defeat against the 23-year-old, who is regarded as one of the best players currently playing in men’s tennis in the singles category, in the quarterfinal of the first Grand Slam of the year in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2, 6-1.

The result was a disappointing one for De Minaur as it was the ninth consecutive outing against the reigning world number one, where he came second-best. The Sydney-born was heavily criticised by some fans on social media. One fan, in particular, was heavily critical of the current world number eight in a post shared on the social media platform X — previously known as Twitter.

"The fact De Minaur is 8th seed, just shows how poor the quality of tennis is these days. Bloke wouldn’t be top 100 any other era. Genuinely average player," the fan posted. In response to that, two Australian players, Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, came to support their fellow countrymen and lambasted the fans. "This could be the worst take I’ve ever seen," wrote the 2022 Wimbledon runner-up. "There’s been some bad ones but this is right up there,” wrote Kokkinakis.

Both Kyrgios and Kokkinakis also featured in the ongoing Australian Open. The former world number 13 lost in the first round to Britain’s Jacob Fearnley in straight sets with a score of 7-6, 6-3, 7-6. He was also featured in the doubles category with Kokkinakis, but the pair lost in the opening round to the pair of Aleksandar Vukic and James Duckworth. On the other hand, Kokkinakis also featured in the singles category and lost in the second round to Britain’s Jack Draper with a score of 6-7, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3.