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.