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The No.8 seed began brilliantly against the 20-year-old, a high class player who won the Miami Masters last year, but ended up dominated when beaten 0-6 6-2 6-2 6-3 to end what has been an extremely challenging clay campaign.<\/p>\n
The 27-year-old was extremely deflated as he pondered his inability to deliver the knockout blow against a rival who had to be carried through the crowd after suffering extreme cramp, but also where his own fighting qualities had gone.<\/p>\n
With Sinner and Djokovic out of Roland Garros, and double-defending champion Carlos Alcaraz absent through injury, de Minaur understood the opportunity ahead for those remaining in Paris, which furthered his disappointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like you only get so many opportunities in your career and you\u2019ve got to be ready to take them, and when you don\u2019t take them, it\u2019s gut wrenching, right, especially a day like today (where) I was in the driver\u2019s seat,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThings were feeling well. I was hitting the ball well. Physically (I was) fine. I\u2019m going to have to find a way to do as I did last year, but it\u2019s back-to-back years where I have kind of had a pretty disappointing stint here or tournament here at the French Open.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess the good thing is I\u2019ve got the grass coming up, which is a part of the year which I always really enjoy. I\u2019m hoping that I can kind of get back to where I should be and the type of player I should be whenever I step out on court. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to be the goal. But first I need to forget about today somehow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sinner OUT! Stunned in Paris heat | 01:20<\/p>\n
It is understood de Minaur was struggling to comprehend a form slump that saw him lose three straight matches in Barcelona, Madrid and Rome, but he bounced back to form with a run to the semifinals leading into Roland Garros.<\/p>\n
While de Minaur remains in the top 10 ahead of the grass court swing, he said late on Friday night in Paris that he will discuss the extended slump with his team in coming days and figure out the best approach to reset, which could include a break.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m in a weird stage at the moment where I have put in a lot, and yeah, recently I haven\u2019t felt like I\u2019ve gotten a lot back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo (I\u2019m) trying to find that balance of whether it\u2019s again you just put your head down (and) get back to work, (because) there is no other way forward than to go through it, right? That\u2019s kind of the mentality I have had my whole career.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I feel like it\u2019s been a long couple of years of that type of mentality. Maybe that\u2019s taking a little bit of a toll on me right now. I don\u2019t know. I really don\u2019t know what the solution is.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Is it) to go out and try to play matches and get my confidence back and get wins under the belt and just go that way? Or (is it) the opposite, to just say, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s forget about tennis for a little while. Let\u2019s make sure I come back missing it and get back on the horse\u2019. I don\u2019t know. I\u2019ll have to talk to the team and kind of decide in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n
A frustrated Alex de Minaur snapped late in his loss to Jakub Mensik when missing a chance to get back into the fourth set, thrashing his racquet on the clay in anger. (Photo by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Playing on Simonne Mathieu Court, a beautiful court situated inside a glasshouse, de Minaur started against Mensik as though he had a garden party to attend and was running late.<\/p>\n
De Minaur was able to secure a break in the first game when his young Czech rival double faulted and then proceeded to rip through the next three games to establish a buffer.<\/p>\n
The Australian reeled off 15 straight points in a sizzling start to his third round match, serving aces, smashing forehands and dicing drop shots while looking completely at ease.<\/p>\n
The first set lasted just 19 minutes as de Minaur ran his rival ragged with blistering strokeplay, though Mensik helped the Aussie\u2019s cause with his own waywardness.<\/p>\n
It was clear the 2025 Miami Masters champion was still feeling the effects of his collapse a couple of days earlier after pulling off a monster win over Argenitian Mariano Navone.<\/p>\n
At the completion of the first set, the 20-year-old left the court for a quick reset and returned a vastly improved player as he set about turning the third round match upside down.<\/p>\n
\u201c(It is) pretty disappointing (and a) missed opportunity. I just took the foot off the gas,\u201d de Minaur said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI let him back into the match and then just a little bit of what\u2019s been happening the last month, I just couldn\u2019t get<\/p>\n
out of the cycle. It is very unlike me. (I\u2019m) very disappointed in myself because, I mean, under all kind of circumstances, this is<\/p>\n
the type of match that I needed to find a way to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s come from a physical battle. I\u2019m as fresh as they come. Yeah, I mean, it\u2019s just not good.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jakub Mensik is among an array of talented youngsters on the tour and bounced back from a swift first set to dominate against Alex de Minaur. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD \/ AFP)Source: AFP<\/p>\n
In the infancy of the second set the powerfully built right-hander signalled a change in intent by coming to the net where he showed good touch and even better reach.<\/p>\n
He was able to hold serve to get on the scoreboard and when he broke in the following game, it signalled Mensik was starting to feel more at home in the glasshouse court.<\/p>\n
And so it proved, for although the 2024 Roland Garros quarterfinalist was able to retrieve the break, from 3-2 the 26th seed seized control when reeling off seven straight games.<\/p>\n
From looking likely to have a swift progression to the Rd of 16, instead the Sydneysider was firmly on the back foot and under immense pressure as he succumbed to his rival\u2019s power.<\/p>\n
Trailing 4-0 in the third set, the seven-time grand slam quarterfinalist started to show signs of life as he managed to break Mensik and then hold his own serve after saving break points.<\/p>\n
But it was a long road back, even for a player with the renowned fighting qualities of the Aussie, and he soon found himself trailing as the match headed into a fourth set.<\/p>\n
He continued to press but after failing to nail a nail a forehand passing shot on a critical point at 2-4, de Minaur lashed his racquet into the ground in frustration, drawing a code violation. <\/p>\n
It was a sign of his frustration, but also a signal the end was near. And with his exit, the campaign for Aussie men came to an end.<\/p>\n
PARIS, FRANCE – MAY 29: Jakub Mensik of Czechia and Alex De Minaur of Australia shake hands at the net following their Men’s Singles third round match on Day Six of the 2026 French Open at Roland Garros on May 29, 2026 in Paris, France. (Photo by Clive Brunskill\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex de Minaur leaves France disillusioned with his approach to tennis and bereft at letting a golden opportunity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[443,459,453,1335,3935,1936,271,3951,3948,3939,3940,1307,3931,617,3930,3934,114,3933,115,207,3947,3949,716,3932,435,438,432,3936,139,444,254,3943,1339,451,3942,220,414,3937,3946,434,456,3950,3944,3938,423,853,3941,3945],"class_list":["post-8415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-french-open","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-barcelona","tag-brazilian-sensation","tag-break-points","tag-carlos-alcaraz","tag-challenging-clay","tag-challenging-clay-campaign","tag-challenging-clay-court","tag-class-player","tag-clay-court-season","tag-code-violation","tag-courtney-walsh","tag-deflating-performance","tag-dicing-drop-shots","tag-europe","tag-fighting-qualities","tag-france","tag-french-open","tag-garden-party","tag-glasshouse-court","tag-grass-court-swing","tag-immense-pressure","tag-italy","tag-joao-fonseca","tag-madrid","tag-monster-win","tag-novak-djokovic","tag-oceania","tag-paris","tag-pretty-disappointing-stint","tag-province-of-barcelona","tag-province-of-madrid","tag-renowned-fighting-qualities","tag-roland-garros","tag-rome","tag-round-match","tag-seven-time-grand","tag-southern-europe","tag-spain","tag-suffering-extreme-cramp","tag-talented-youngsters","tag-weird-stage","tag-western-europe","tag-world-number","tag-young-czech-rival","tag-young-star"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}