Alex de Minaur smacks down brutal suggestion as Aussie suffers fresh grand slam heartache

Alex de Minaur has shut down the question to why he didn't retire injured in his US Open loss to Jack Draper after admitting he struggled on court. De Minaur was well below his best in his straight sets loss to 25th seed Draper in the quarter-final with the No.10 seed unable to showcase his grit and determination.

The 25-year-old looked hapless on court as the in-form Draper punished his serve and forehand, which completely abandoned the Aussie towards the third set. The World No.10 clutched at his leg on multiple occasions when trying to change direction on court. Having injured his hip at Wimbledon - and playing his first singles competition since the grass court campaign - De Minaur was finally showing signs of fatigue.

In his fourth match of the tournament, de Minaur's body had deserted him. De Minaur pushed through the pain, but was off court in a little more than two hours with his hopes of making a maiden US Open semi-final gone.

There was plenty of speculation around de Minaur's injury and why he didn't retire when he couldn't compete at his standard level. When asked about whether the injury was bothering him ahead of the quarter-final clash, de Minaur tried to brush off the question and praised Draper.

But de Minaur shut down the suggestion he should have retired and said it was not within himself to give up. "It's not part of me, part of my DNA," he said in the post-match press conference. "I don't like it, if I'm honest. I'm always going to give my best.

"And, look, it could have been naive of me, but I genuinely thought that there was a chance even in that last game going in. I thought that there was a chance that I was going to change the match around and go out there and win it.

"So at every stage in that match, I gave myself a shot, with my attitude, with my mindset, to go out there. I had some chances as well, that who knows if I would have taken them, then maybe I would still be on court right now. So retiring, that's not part of me. Over my career, you'll very rarely witness that."

Fans were quick to praise de Minaur's efforts in reaching the US Open quarter-final with very little preparation heading into Flushing Meadows. It was also a missed chance for the Aussie with both Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz out of the draw.

Alex de Minaur shows class in US Open defeat

The World No.10 would have seen the clash against Draper as a huge opportunity to reach a maiden grand slam semi-final. Unfortunately, de Minaur never looked likely to overcome the British star.

And De Minaur showed his class after the defeat and refused to let the injury take away from Draper's career-best grand slam performance. "I just want to say I'm very proud of myself, of what I have achieved, all things considering, doing everything I could to be in this position. Today it wasn't meant to be," he said.

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"Jack is never easy to play in the best of times, and the way he can spread the court, being a lefty and really move you around the court, it takes a toll on the body. Accumulation of matches takes a toll as well.

"But he played well. He deserves the win. He moved me around the court, and served great. In the few chances that I had, I wasn't able to execute." Draper was also quick to acknowledge de Minaur wasn't at his best on court. "He was struggling a little bit today with something and that helped me a little bit," Draper said

Alex de Minaur matches Lleyton Hewitt feat

De Minaur still made Aussie history becoming the first Aussie male to reach the US Open quarter-final since Lleyton Hewitt in 2004. He also became the first Australian since Hewitt to reach three consecutive grand slam quarter-finals. Not even Ash Barty or Sam Stosur achieved this feat throughout their illustrious careers.