Alex de Minaur snubs party after Acapulco win in ‘great boyfriend’ move

Alex de Minaur claimed one of the greatest wins of his career in Acapulco but shunned celebrations in a move that’s melted tennis’ heart.

Alex de Minaur is a good boyfriend. Photo: Getty Images and Instagram

Alex de Minaur has defended his Mexican Open title at Acapulco but will drop a spot from ninth to 10th in the rankings, replaced by Casper Ruud, the man he defeated for the title.

But the 25-year-old Aussie won’t be partying long into the night as you’d expect from a man who’s just claimed another career triumph.

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Instead, de Minaur revealed he was skipping the celebration in order to catch an early flight to San Diego in order to watch his girlfriend Katie Boulter play for her second career WTA title.

Asked if he was going to make the party after the tournament, he said: “I cannot — I have a 6am flight to Tijuana to go watch Katie play the final so I’m looking forward to that,” de Minaur said via tennis reporter Jose Morgado.

Boulter, the world No. 49, upset third seed and world No. 26 Emma Navarro at the San Diego Open with a stunning 6-3 6-1 thrashing.

It sees her book a clash with Ukrainian world No. 34 Maria Kostyuk in the final as both women seek their second WTA titles.

A win for either woman would see the winner rise to world No. 27 — although Boulter will already start next week at least world No. 35, a big rise considering her previous high was No. 48.

A win would be the biggest of Boulter’s career, having previously claimed the Nottingham Open in June last year, a WTA 250 event.

Morgado said de Minaur was a “great boyfriend” and said it had been “an incredible week for the couple”.

De Minaur and Boulter have been making waves since back in 2021, going public in March of that year.

Demon is a champ again. Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

But an even better boyfriend. Photo: Instagram

As for the rankings, de Minaur will drop from world No. 9 to No. 10 despite claiming the title at Acapulco.

The Aussie captured his second straight crown in Acapulco, downing the world No. 11 Ruud 6-4 6-4 to keep himself inside the ATP top 10.

As he was defending the full 500 points in Acapulco, the Aussie needed to win the title or drop to world No. 11, where he would have been replaced by Stefanos Tsitsipas, the man he defeated in the quarterfinals.

Ruud was able to jump de Minaur as he was only defending second round loser points from last years’ event and making the most of the 300 points bump for making the finals.

De Minaur was only able to defend the points he had won last year so won’t improve his ranking.

Regardless, de Minaur captured his eighth career ATP title, ending a run of four straight final losses since winning in Acapulco last year.

What a week for Demon. Photo by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

It’s a career week for Boulter as well. Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images/AFP

World No. 9 de Minaur, a two-time winner also at Atlanta, dispatched 11th-ranked Ruud in a fraction under two hours, improving to 2-0 against his European foe after winning their only prior meeting at the 2019 ATP NextGen Finals.

Ruud, a two-time French Open runner-up and the 2022 US Open runner-up, missed out on his 11th ATP title for the second week in a row after dropping last week’s final at Los Cabos to another Aussie, Jordan Thompson.

Ruud’s most recent ATP crown came last April at Estoril.

The Aussie was unsurprisingly pleased by the result.

“Acapulco has been a very good place for me, for my tennis career,” de Minaur said.

“(It’s the) first time I’ve won a 500, first time I’ve defended my title in my career. I feel at home here and it’s a great place to be.

“It’s been an amazing week. Probably a week I didn’t really expect if I’m honest.

“I came into Mexico not feeling my best and just kept on telling myself to keep putting myself out there, keep giving myself chances and I think today I played my best match of the tournament so (I’m) extremely happy with that.”

With AFP