Nick Kyrgios and Alex de Minaur were among the Australians flying the flag for their country at the Australian Open, with the latter outshining the former.
Kyrgios has likely played his last Australian Open singles match, having fallen in the first round to Jacob Fearnley.
Home favourite Kyrgios made a return from a lengthy injury absence at the Australian Open, where he also lost in the men’s doubles first round.
Kyrgios loved the Australian Open fans despite that loss to Fearnley, with the former having produced many moments of magic on the court for those watching on.
De Minaur meanwhile enjoyed a superb Australian Open run, with the ATP number eight having just fallen to Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals.
Nick Kyrgios hits back at tennis fan who criticised Alex de Minaur
But the Australian Open eighth seed has now come under fire from one fan, having lost 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 to world number one Sinner.
“The fact De Minaur is 8th seed just shows how poor the quality of tennis is these days,” a tennis fan wrote on X. “Bloke wouldn’t be top 100 any other era. Genuinely average player.”
But quick to respond to the claim was De Minaur’s compatriot Kyrgios, who simply replied: “This could be the worst take I’ve ever seen.”
Nick Kyrgios right to defend Alex de Minaur after Australian Open criticism
Despite his confident aura, controversial figure Kyrgios may not be right about everything, but he’s certainly right here.
De Minaur has enjoyed a hugely successful career thus far, and will have worked extremely hard to get to such a stage.
Having once reached 13th in the world rankings, Kyrgios knows all about that hard work and sacrifice, so this is certainly not a matter of one Australian simply defending another.
De Minaur was always going to find it very difficult against such a formidable opponent, particularly one that is so lethal on hard courts.
The Australian did his utmost to avoid major upsets against the likes of Botic van de Zandschulp and Alex Michelsen in previous rounds, before falling just short of pulling off one of his own in the quarter-finals.
One can only imagine just how much talent and effort are needed to compete at such a high level, and De Minaur is certainly one of the best there is at this moment in time.
The 25-year-old once reached number six in the world rankings, and boasts ATP titles from his impressive career.
| Year | Titles | Tournaments |
| 2024 | 2 | ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Outdoor/Grass) Acapulco (Outdoor/Hard) |
| 2023 | 1 | Acapulco (Outdoor/Hard) |
| 2022 | 1 | Atlanta (Outdoor/Hard) |
| 2021 | 2 | Eastbourne (Outdoor/Grass) Antalya (Outdoor/Hard) |
| 2019 | 3 | Zhuhai (Outdoor/Hard) Atlanta (Outdoor/Hard) Sydney (Outdoor/Hard) |
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