Jannik Sinner destroyed the Demon to ensure Australia’s wait for a male winner in their own Grand Slam will hit 50 years of hurt. World No.212 Mark Edmonson, who worked as a window cleaner, was the last Aussie male champion way back in 1976.
But last night the Italian world No.1 wiped the floor with the Aussie No.1 Alex de Minaur 6-3 6-2 6-1 in an embarrassingly one-sided quarter-final to end home hopes in the singles. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, out, out, out.
Ash Barty won here in 2022 – and promptly retired – but the Aussies retain the unwanted record of the longest wait for a native son winning their own Grand Slam.
Andy Murray broke Great Britain’s 77-year wait in 2013 while Yannick Noah (1983) and Andy Roddick (2003) are the last winners in France and the USA.
But despite world No.8 De Minaur becoming the first Aussie to reach the last eight since Nick Kyrgios in 2015, his crushing defeat showed how far he has to go to break the home jinx. He is now 10-0 against defending champion Sinner. If only the Italian could play cricket.
Luckily the Aussie’s fiancee Katie Boulter had already left the country to prepare for her next tournament in Doha.
Shellshocked De Minaur said: “After playing some great tennis on home soil and gaining so much, you feel like you just have been slapped across the face, to be honest, to finish off like that. I think he’s probably my worst matchup, and you can see it in the head-to-head.
“I know that whole crowd has got my back. They want me to go out there, make it competitive, try to make it into a match. It’s frustrating that I can’t do it. I’m doing my best, but I can’t even make it into a match where the crowd can get behind and start supporting.”
Sinner had struggled physically in his fourth round win over Holger Rune and a report yesterday claimed he had pneumonia and was about to pull out. “If he’s got pneumonia, give me a case,” said John McEnroe.
The defending champion said: “I feel like the illness has gone away now. I was feeling much, much better this morning. I am very happy with my performance.”
The No.1 seed will next face Ben Shelton after the American left-hander reached his second Grand Slam semi by seeing off unseeded Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 7-5 4-6 7-6.
On the other side of the draw, Novak Djokovic did not practice at Melbourne Park after his late-night win over Carlos Alcaraz.
The world No.7, who took painkillers after suffering a hamstring strain, admitted he was “concerned” if he will be able to face world No.2 Alexander Zverev in the first men’s semi-final on Friday. But Djokovic will benefit from a two-day break. “The extra day with no match comes at the perfect time for me,” he said.
But the Serbian superstar’s unbelievable performance while carrying an injury caused more comment yesterday. An online survey in the local Herald Sun had only 10% of respondents believing the 24-time Grand Slam was “legitimately injured”.
And former US Open champion Andy Roddick told his podcast: “He was moving as well as I’ve seen Novak move in 18 months, maybe two years. It didn’t work that way in my career. If I pulled a groin, it kinda tended to stay pulled and maybe get worse.”
