Former doubles No.1 Todd Woodbridge says Alex de Minaur must temper expectations of winning a grand slam as footage from the Australian's locker room gave an insight into the world No.6's frustration over repeated failures against Carlos Alcaraz.
De Minaur, said he will dust himself off and keep fighting after the 7-5, 6-2, 6-1 loss in the quarter-finals at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
He is yet to defeat an opponent ranked higher than him at the Australian Open and has never made it past a quarter-final in a grand slam.
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The Aussie's disappointment was palpable after the match where he was seen having an animated conversation with his team, although there were a few tense moments out on court as well.
While de Minaur made the Spaniard work for the win, his defeat seemed almost inevitable and he succumbed in two hours and 15 minutes.
As vision of de Minaur's private moment with his team was aired on Nine's coverage, Woodbridge suggested the right-hander from Sydney adjust his mental approach.
"He's holding court as if to say, well, what do I do? I've been working so hard," Woodbridge said on the coverage.
"You have all of these negative thoughts kind of go through your mind when you're in this position right now, and everyone in his team's just gonna have to absorb everything that he's saying.
"Then they'll go away, cool down, calm down and go, 'OK, let's work on this and that, and find ways to get better.
"He is good enough, and what he does in these moments, I've seen it, been in the locker room with him, he beats himself up.
"I know Alex quite well, and he really goes deep diving at this time. Sometimes it's best to reflect a little later.
"There's too much emotion pent up about expectations, and the one thing I'll say with Alex is – his expectations are to win one of these, and he hasn't let that go.
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"There comes a point in a career for most of us where you go, 'Well, I'm good, it's my business, I'm gonna keep going, do as well as I can, but maybe that major isn't in sight'.
"I think he still believes, and he should believe, that he's got that opportunity, and this (footage) is reality, this is behind the scenes that we don't normally see."
De Minaur now has a 6-0 losing record against world No.1 Alcaraz, and he has been beaten 13 times in a row by world No.2 Jannik Sinner.
Asked what needed to be done for him to bridge the gap to the top two players on the men's tour, the 26-year-old said: "Some tweaks here and there that's going to allow me to increase ball speed.
"Because at the moment the way my natural groundstrokes are, they're quite flat, and it's quite difficult for me. There's a whole lot of risk for me to play at a very high ball speed.
"I feel like in this case, Jannik or Carlos, they have so many revolutions on the ball that they're able to not only play at a higher speed but also have their consistency. There's stuff that I need to look at and see and try to work out."
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