Alex de Minaur has helped dispel the gloom in the Australian tennis ranks with a virtuoso drought-busting victory on a long, rainy day at the French Open. Alex Michelsen, a teenage American tyro who had already beaten Australia’s No.1 on a hard court this year, found de Minaur a wholly different prospect on wet clay as he was given a lesson on the Roland Garros red stuff on Monday with a 6-1 6-0 6-2 trouncing.
The 19-year-old Michelsen was left so battered and bamboozled, he ended up reduced to the sort of vintage teenage tantrum that John McEnroe would have been proud of, berating umpire Louis Boucharinc and screaming petulantly when a line call went against him in the final set. De Minaur’s effort meant that after five defeats and a withdrawal on a calamitous first two days, Australian tennis could celebrate their first opening-round victory – and on this form, de Minaur looks well set to achieve his ambition of being the first Australian man into the second week at Roland Garros for 17 years. More Tennis Laughing when asked if it was his best performance at Roland Garros after a series of patchy displays there over eight years, he responded: “Well, there’s not too many to go from, so I’ll take it! Looking at the scores and everything, it probably is.
“I’m a completely different player than previous years on the surface. I feel comfortable. I feel capable.
I’m going to do my very best because ultimately my goals are, at the slams, to go deep. “It wasn’.
