Injury and expectation are part of the game, says Alex de Minaur, as he locks in berth at new Adelaide International event
It’s been a difficult year for Australia’s top men’s tennis player, Alex de Minaur, after battling injury and expectations. But he believes he has turned a corner and is eager to start next year on the right foot at the inaugural Adelaide international.
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A breakout 2018 that saw Alex de Minaur leap 177 places to end the year as world No. 31 is not even remotely comparable to the struggles he has endured in 2019, says the top-ranked Aussie.
“This year has been 10 times more difficult,” he said after announcing he has booked in for the new Adelaide International tournament at Memorial Drive in January.
“It’s been full of ups and downs and some really tough times with pressure and expectation. It has been a rough one but I’m on the up now.”
Missing several months of the 2019 season with an inflammation of the pubis bone frustrated deeply.
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“I look back on all the first round losses and I was not always 100 per cent physically and. mentally,” he said. “I missed a fair bit early on and feel like I’m relishing whoever I am playing against now.”
Defending points accumulated during several winning runs last year has not been easy, but perspective has been maintained.
“You try not to put pressure on yourself and you have just got to go about it,” de Minaur said. “There is a whole chunk of this season where I have no points to defend and I know I will have good weeks and bad weeks.
“You try and have your good weeks in the 250 and 500 events and Slams. Grand Slams, that’s how you make it.”
His triumph at China’s Zhuhai Championships last month — where he beat five men including top 10 ranked Roberto Bautista Agut and a revitalised Andy Murray (who on Sunday won his first major title in two years after career threatening surgery) — was special de Minaur said.
“Zhuhai was the best win of my career for sure, the best tournament I played all around. Every player I had to play was at a very high level.
“It’s good to see Andy Murray back, he is competitive, he will never die on court.”
Much like de Minaur.
While his high-tempo, aggressive chasing game will push physical barriers — at 183cm tall de Minaur does not have the reach or serve advantage of 193cm Nick Kyrgios, for example — the newcomer puts strength of mind to the fore.
“I speak to my psychologist every day,” he said. “I speak about everything that goes on in my mind, he helps me to relax, physically less tense.
“Everything you do you try to get the best out of yourself on the tennis court, physically and mentally. I always want to keep improving every day.”
Much as the big three — Federer, Nadal and Djokovic — have smothered all wannabes for years now, de Minaur, while respectful of the old guard, is aware that it is his contemporaries who will help define him as a player.
Next month in Milan, the world’s top eight players under 21 will fight it out for the Next Gen crown, an upcomers’ version of the year-ending ATP finals in London. De Minaur, the beaten finalist last year, is aiming high. “I treat every match the same,” he said. “Of course these guys, this generation, we are going to play together. It’s cool, I feel we are going to push the barriers.”
Felix Auger-Aliasimme, 19, looms in Milan and potentially at the Davis Cup and ATP Cup too, before a possible meeting in Adelaide.
“I have not played Felix in ATP matches.
“I have played juniors and Challengers against him.
“The first time we played, he got me and then I got him. I’m up.”
As for goals in 2020, daily improvement is as far as he commits. Balance is all.
“I want to go deep in the slams, to get to the second week and play the top guys.”