The heavily favored Kelly Slater, who looked to be in a league of his own throughout most of the U.S. Open, was upset by Adriano de Souza in the quarterfinals Sunday morning.

Slater, the nine-time World champion, could only catch waves of 7.17 and 2.83. After security guards escorted him past fans to exit the surf stadium, a visually upset Slater denied all interview requests — even the live Hurley webcast.

After basking in the thousands of fans that showed up and wanted a piece of him all week — he suddenly didn’t want to talk to anybody.

“No, I’m going to cool off,” Slater told me after requesting a minute for his reaction.

de Souza recorded a 7.43 and 5.67 but did not talk to Slater afterward, either.

“Nah, for sure he’s mad,” de Souza said of Slater. “Not a good moment to talk to him.”

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