Throughout the match, De Minaur faced shouts and jeers from the patriotic home crowd, whose songs and applause for Gaston helped him to victory.
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Alex de Minaur has accused those in attendance of ‘crossing the line’ after his loss to Hugo Gaston on Tuesday at Roland Garros. In a four-hour, five-set battle against his French opponent, Australia’s No. 1 player was thrown out of the clay-court major at the first hurdle. Throughout the match, De Minaur faced shouts and jeers from the patriotic home crowd, whose songs and applause for Gaston, 21, helped catapult the Olympic youth winner to a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 (10-4) victory.
“There’s a difference between a great atmosphere and supporting your fellow countryman, which is completely fine and it’s great,” said the Aussie. I’m sure for him it was an amazing atmosphere. He enjoyed every second of it, but there’s a line. When I’m getting told things by people in the crowd, making eye contact with me after I hit a double fault, I think there’s a certain line that needs to be looked at.”
“I’d rather not get into what was being said,” Di Minaur continued. “Ideally, I will sleep tonight and forget all about it, but I have a feeling that won’t be the case. What I have got to do now is put this behind me. Easier said than done but I will do my best,” he concluded.
Fans of tennis at the Suzanne Lenglen Court were in for an absolute treat as Alex de Minaur and Hugo Gaston played out an absolute thriller of a contest. The match ended with Gaston recording an unlikely victory over De Minaur by a score-line of 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6 (10-4). The last set, especially, kept fans on the edge of their seats. The stats paint an incredible story as well. The Australian scored nine aces while Gaston could only manage one. De Minaur, however, committed eight double faults, six more than his opponent. The Aussie had a win percentage of 59% on the first serve while Gaston recorded 57%. On the second serve, the Frenchman had the superior figure with 56% compared to his opponent’s 47%. De Minaur scored 11 out of 22 break points while Gaston managed 10 out of 26.
Top seed and world no. 1 Novak Djokovic eased past his first round opponent Yoshihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-1, 6-0. He will face Slovakian tennis player Alex Molcan. Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev had his work cut out for him against Soon-woo Kwon of South Korea. Rublev had to come back from a set down to win the match 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-2, 6-4. Daniil Medvedev has not had a great clay season so far but managed to earn a 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 win against Argentina’s Facundo Bagnis in his first round tie.
