"Shame you never became a good enough player" - Alex de Minaur responds to troll criticizing him for 'awful' Jannik Sinner loss at Australian Open

Alex De Minaur has hit back on social media after internet personality and tennis guru Pavvy G posted highly critical comments about him in light of De Minaur's Australian Open loss to Jannik Sinner. De Minaur crashed out at the quarterfinal stage of the tournament after a humbling 3-6, 2-6, 1-6 defeat to the irrepressible Italian ATP-ranked World No. 1.

De Minaur put up scant resistance as Sinner broke his serve six times in the match, without losing a single service game of his own, en route to a straightforward win. It was Sinner's 10th win over De Minaur in as many matches, during which he's only surrendered one of 24 sets.

In his X comment, Pavvy G, who describes himself as a tennis blogger, an anti-woke/anti-corruption tennis advocate and a huge Novak Djokovic supporter, was unforgiving in his criticism of Australian De Minaur's performance:

"Alex De Minaur has zero self belief that he can even compete with Sinner let alone beat him. Awful performance from him."

De Minaur Twitter

De Minaur didn't take the comments lying down and responded by highlighting the fact that Pavvy G is not a tennis player and merely a pundit. The British blogger is well-known in tennis circles as a provocateur and online troll, often making controversial comments about players and coaches, and riling people up. De Minaur put him firmly in his place, saying:

"Hey mate it's a shame that you never became a good enough player to experience playing Jannik. I'm sure you would've put up a better performance and know exactly how to beat him. Wishing you all the best!!!"

To his credit, Pavvy G acknowledged the comeback, replying "Fair play mate", and the pair ended their conversation. For all his reputation as a troublemaker, Pavvy G's words were not entirely misplaced - De Minaur, the fiancee of British player Katie Boulter, looked short of confidence against the world's best player.

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After the match, De Minaur admitted that Sinner was just too good for him

2025 Australian Open - Day 11 - Source: Getty

Speaking at the post-match press conference, De Minaur talked about the difficulty of playing Sinner (0:27 onwards):

"He was very good today. I think, you know with the conditions a little bit slower and a little bit later at night it's pretty tough to make him miss or hurt him, and, yeah, he was bloody good tonight. "

Sinner plays surprise semifinalist Ben Shelton next and will be hugely favored to reach Sunday's final. He has a 4-1 head-to-head advantage over the American, which may give Shelton similar confidence issues to those faced by De Minaur regarding Jannik Sinner's dominance.