Alex de Minaur after shock loss at French Open: 'I'm a little bit burned out'

Alex de Minaur after shock loss at French Open: 'I'm a little bit burned out'

Alex de Minaur has called for a shorter tennis season after suffering a shock loss in the second round of the French Open after going down to Alexander Bublik.

The ninth seed looked in command after winning the ooening two sets at the Parisian Grand Slam, but ultimately fell to the unpredictable Kazakh 2-6, 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

De Minaur's loss will be particularly painful, given that the Australian has had a successful clay-court season â- reaching a first Masters 1000 semi-final on the surface in Monte Carlo.

"There's no excuse for today, myself, I need to look at myself in the mirror and find out the reasoning," said De Minaur, during his post-match press conference.

"One of those matches that just slip away, without a whole lot of meaning. I'm just tired, tired mentally, I'm a little bit burned out if anything, a lot of tennis being played.

"In a way, the good thing is that what happened today is something like a miracle, in the sense that I'm not known for these types of performances, for losing a match like this from two sets to love up.

"I'm probably known for the opposite, which is being consistent and not losing matches that I shouldnâ™t be losing."

Indeed, the encounter was just the third time that the Australian had lost from a two set advantage â- and his first in three years.

After looking unusually tired towards the end of the match, de Minaur placed much of the blame on the length of the ATP Tourâ™s season.

"No one's got a solution," the former world No 6 said. "But the solution is simple: You shorten the schedule, right? What's not normal is that for the last three, four years I've had two days off after the Davis Cup and I've gone straight into preseason, straight into the new season again.

"Yeah, sure, I could've taken a week or a week and a half [off], but then that means my pre-season is two weeks long, and I'm already starting in Australia, which is my home ground where I want to do well.

"Once you start, you donâ™t finish until Nov. 24. So it's never ending. The way it's structured ⦠I had to deal with that. I'm still dealing with that right now."

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