Mark Philippoussis hopes fellow countryman Alex de Minaur doesn’t ‘beat himself up too much’ after crashing out of Wimbledon to Flavio Cobolli.
The world No.6 was knocked out in straight sets by Cobolli, who reached the French Open final earlier this season and is through to the last eight at Wimbledon for the second year in a row. It was a frustrating encounter for de Minaur, who squandered a 5-2 lead in the second set and was a break up twice in the third before falling 7-5, 7-6(4), 6-3.
Following his defeat, the bitterly disappointed 27-year-old blasted his own performance and said he felt further away from achieving goals than he did two years ago. He has reached eight Grand Slam quarter-finals in his career, with half of those coming since the start of 2025.
“The goals, the beliefs, the dreams that you have, they kind of start fading away or they feel a little bit further away than when they once were,” he said.
“I feel like a couple of years ago, I was definitely closer. Now it just feels like I’m getting a little bit further away from those dreams.”
Speaking to Ubitennis on Tuesday morning at The All England Club, Philippoussis says it is important that de Minaur looks at the wider picture regarding his performance. The 49-year-old reached the final at Wimbledon in 2003 before falling to Roger Federer, who won his first of eight titles at the tournament. Philippoussis won 11 ATP titles during a 10-year period on the Tour.
“Unfortunately, Alex played Cobolli, who’s having a great year. He’s very flamboyant. Great hitter of the ball,” he said.
“He had his opportunities; unfortunately, he couldn’t take hold of them. That’s what tennis is, that’s what sport is. But he’s giving himself an opportunity in the second week (of a Grand Slam).
“Hopefully he can learn from that and then have a great American summer.”
As for de Minaur’s sharp criticism of his own game, Philippoussis uses his own experience as a player to explain that there will be good and bad periods. For him, he was hindered by serious knee problems that resulted in having a total of six operations during his career. Leading up to his dream run at Wimbledon, he only won back-to-back matches in two out of six Grand Slam events played.
“There’s gonna be times when you’re gonna go through some certain tough moments,” he said.
“He’s (de minaur) a very positive person. He was maybe a little bit hard on himself. It’s good to be hard on yourself, of course. But not in a place where you beat yourself down.
“He was in the round of 16, it’s not like he was out in the first round or anything like that.
“He put himself in a position to win. It didn’t happen but I hope he doesn’t beat himself up too much. Try to stay positive and become better because of that.”
Perhaps a break from the sport might benefit de Minaur to regroup and regain his confidence?
“Sometimes a break could help,” Philippoussis agreed before adding, “Sometimes playing through things will help as well. But more importantly is where he is mentally and physically. Only he can make that call.”
Philippoussis is currently playing in the Wimbledon mixed invitational doubles tournament alongside Cara Black.
