Ash Barty and Aussie title hope Alex de Minaur get caught up in French Open drama
- Australian tennis legend Renee Stubbs calls for oversight of Roland Garros
- De Minaur would be the first Aussie to reach the last eight of the French Open since 2004
- Statistics have wrongly overlooked Australians Ash Barty and Sam Stosur
An Australian tennis legend has called out international broadcaster Tennis Channel after Alex de Minaur reached the quarter-finals of the French Open earlier this week.
The Sydneysider with the big heart and electric speed came from a set down on Monday to beat former US Open champion Medvedev 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-3 to reach only his second quarter-final in a grand slam.
‘Demon’ also became the first Australian male player to reach the last eight with the French since his idol, mentor and Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.
The Tennis Channel showed a graph during his on-court interview showing that De Minaur was the first Australian to enter the quarter-finals since Hewitt, failing to note that this only happens in men’s tennis – with Australia’s female greats completely taking over be overlooked.
Alex de Minaur is the first Australian male player to reach the last eight with the French since 2004
Ash Barty (pictured) won the French Open in 2019, while Sam Stosur reached the final several times over the years
And that’s where former Aussie doubles champion Renee Stubbs stepped in to let the tennis broadcaster know he 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 has done this many times after 2004. Like finals, semi-finals etc. Can we please get those graphics right? Thank you.
“Oh and @ashbarty won the whole thing!”
Meanwhile, the stars may be aligning for De Minaur in Paris, with everything falling into place to potentially give the Australian a dream shot at the French Open.
An exhausting finish in the early hours of the eve of the match for his opponent Alexander Zverev in the quarter-final on Tuesday, followed by the bombshell of champion Novak Djokovic’s injury withdrawal, has opened a tempting path for De Minaur not only to a first semi-final. , but even to the finale itself.
And with the great Djokovic, a potentially invincible obstacle in the semi-finals, out of the picture, De Minaur knows his last four opponent would be Casper Ruud, a player he has defeated twice and never lost to, should he have Zverev beat in a match that… now promoted to Wednesday’s prime time evening spot on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Already confident of returning to career-high world number 9, De Minaur will climb to at least eighth in the rankings with a win over Zverev and could reach the French Open as high as could end up number 6 if he wins the title. tournament.
