Alex de Minaur declares himself ‘back’ ahead of Australian Open

After injury interrupted his 2024 campaign, the fit again Alex de Minaur is talking up his hopes of a deep run at Melbourne Park.

Alex de Minaur is in a confident mood ahead of the Australian Open. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

Australian world No. 8 Alex de Minaur says his speed and agility has been restored to pre-injury levels as he eyes a maiden grand slam title on home soil.

De Minaur secured a crucial top-eight seeding at Melbourne Park after a surprise first-round loss from rival Andrey Rublev in Hong Kong last month dropped the Russian to No. 9 in the ATP rankings.

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The Demon is aiming to improve on his 2024 Open performance, where he made the fourth round and lost coincidentally to Rublev in four sets.

The 25-year-old Aussie went on to reach the quarter-finals of the following three grand slams during a stellar season, but could have progressed further at Wimbledon had a hip injury not forced his withdrawal ahead of a showdown with Novak Djokovic.

Alex de Minaur is in a confident mood ahead of the Australian Open. (Photo by Kelly Defina/Getty Images)

The same injury forced him out of the Paris Olympics singles draw and hampered him during the straight-sets quarter-final loss to Jack Draper at the US Open weeks later.

But De Minaur said he was confident any issues with his body were behind him leading into the first major of 2025.

“The biggest thing that’s back is my movement,” De Minaur said on Tuesday.

“That’s something that suffered a little bit of a hit after the injury last year.

“I’m excited for what’s to come. I’ve been playing some great tennis. The body feels really good.

De Minaur won the UTS Grand Final in December. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)

“I’ve tweaked a couple of things – I’m trying to get a little bit stronger, trying to get a couple more free points on serve.

“Hopefully I’m a better version of myself than I was last year and I can go out there play some good tennis … and hopefully go deep (into the Open).”

De Minaur will take on world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday night in a repeat of the thrilling charity fixture which he won in a match tie-break last year.

His clash against the reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion is scheduled to begin at 7pm AEDT after Olympic gold medallist Qinwen Zheng takes on world No. 23 Elina Svitolina at Rod Laver Arena.