- Australian tennis legend Renee Stubbs denounces supervision at Roland Garros
- De Minaur claims to be the first Australian to reach the round of 16 of the French Open since 2004
- The statistic mistakenly overlooked Australians Ash Barty and Sam Stosur
An Australian tennis legend has criticized international broadcaster Tennis Channel after Alex de Minaur stormed into the French Open quarter-finals earlier in the week.
The Sydney player with big heart and electric speed came back from a set down on Monday to defeat former US Open champion Medvedev 4-6, 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 and reach just his second quarterfinal. in a Grand Slam. .
‘Demon’ also became the first Australian player to reach the last 16 in France since his idol, mentor and Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
The Tennis Channel showed a graphic during their on-court interview saying that De Minaur was the first Australian to reach the quarterfinals since Hewitt, disregarding that that is only in men’s tennis, completely overlooking the great women of Australia.
Alex de Minaur is the first Australian player to reach the quarter-finals in France since 2004.
Ash Barty (pictured) won the French Open in 2019, while Sam Stosur has reached the final on several occasions over the years.
And that’s where former Australian doubles champion Renee Stubbs stepped in to let the tennis broadcaster know she had made a mistake.
“HUGE congratulations to @alexdeminaur, so happy for you mate,” Stubbs wrote on X.
BUT @TennisChannel Demon is the first Australian MAN since Hewitt. If you remember
@bambamsam30 did this many times after 2004. Like finals, semi-finals etc. So can we get those graphs right? Thank you.
‘Oh and @ashbarty won the whole thing!’
Meanwhile, the stars may be aligning for De Minaur in Paris and everything falling into place to give the Australian a potentially dream opportunity at the French Open.
A grueling finish on the eve of the match for his quarter-final opponent, Alexander Zverev, on Tuesday, and then the bombshell injury withdrawal of champion Novak Djokovic, have opened a tantalizing path for De Minaur not only to a first semi-final . , but even until the final itself.
And with the great Djokovic, a potentially impregnable obstacle in the semifinals, out of the picture, De Minaur knows that his opponent in the quarterfinals would be Casper Ruud, a player he has defeated twice and never lost against, in case of defeating Zverev in a match that is now has been promoted to Wednesday night’s primetime slot at the Court Philippe Chatrier.
Already assured of returning to a career-best world No. 9, De Minaur will move up to at least eighth in the rankings with a win over Zverev and could finish the French Open at No. 6 if he wins the tournament.
