Davis Cup: Alex de Minaur inspired by Australian team environment

Not only has Alex de Minaur corrected false reporting about his vaccination he’s revealed he’s extra ready for the Davis Cup in Sydney.

Alex de Minaur has left behind the unfounded vaccine allegations that briefly thrust him into the headlines to resume his role as Australia’s Davis Cup spearhead.

The world No.30, who kickstarted his season with a career-best run to the last 16 at the Australian Open, became embroiled in overseas reporting of an illegal fraud ring in Spain.

de Minaur was forced a fortnight ago to address the speculation and deny he was under investigation, saying his only link to the case was receiving his second vaccination dose at the hospital involved.

He flew into his home city Sydney in recent days to join the rest of Lleyton Hewitt’s squad ahead of the Davis Cup qualifier against Hungary on Friday and Saturday.

“A lot of stuff happens off the court but I got boosted a couple days ago when I got here and I’m just ready to go,” de Minaur said on Tuesday.

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— alex de minaur (@alexdeminaur) February 17, 2022

“We get to be in a team environment and you forget everything else that’s happening.

“You just focus on getting better with the boys and bringing the best out of each other and making sure that every single one of the players is ready to go come Friday.”

de Minaur’s role this week is a far cry from serving as Australia’s ‘orange boy’ against Slovakia in Sydney in 2017, when he donned a leotard and danced in front of the team as part of the initiation process.

He is set to meet Hungarian No.1 Marton Fucsovics for the second time in barely three months, after outlasting his rival 7-5 2-7 7-6 (7-2) at the Davis Cup finals in Italy.

That match-up is the only certainty this weekend, with de Minaur, Hewitt and co. keeping their line-up plans close to their chest.

Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt has some tough selection calls to make this week. Matt King

Alexei Popyrin, Thanasi Kokkinakis and doubles specialists John Peers and Luke Saville round out Australia’s squad.

“We don’t want to give out too much. I think that’s the amazing thing (with) this great group of guys, anyone can play,” de Minaur said.

“They’ve got their best players here, so it means a lot. It’s going to be a war, a battle. But we’re going to give it everything we’ve got and hopefully we can stay strong as a team and ... get the win.

“We’re excited to play here in Sydney, in front of, hopefully, a packed crowd.”

Davis Cup rookie’s dream comes true

Davis Cup debutant Luke Saville has pledged to “leave it all out for Australia” as he waits to find out whether he will play against Hungary in Sydney on Saturday.

The doubles specialist and former world junior No.1 is in team captain Lleyton Hewitt’s squad for the first time, but Australia is leaving Hungary guessing as to who will be their pairing.

John Peers is a top-10 doubles player and formed a good combination with Saville at the ATP Cup – winning two of their three matches – but Australia could also turn to Australian Open champion Thanasi Kokkinakis.

Kokkinakis won the Melbourne Park title with Nick Kyrgios, who isn’t part of the squad, while Alex de Minaur and Alexei Popyrin are the other options.

“It’s definitely the biggest highlight of my career so far,” Saville said on Monday.

Australian Davis Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt picked Luke Saville in his squad for the first time. Picture: Matt King

“I’ve looked up to a lot of these guys and a lot of the past players here in Australia. Seeing (Australian great) Tony Roche here and him being on court and taking us through our paces is amazing.

“I’ll do whatever it takes to get the win this weekend, whether that’s playing or supporting, and I’m just thrilled to be back home in Australia and finally getting the chance to play Davis Cup.”

This will be the third Davis Cup meeting between Australia and Hungary but the second in a matter of months after the teams clashed in the round-robin stage of the competition finals in Italy in November.

Peers and Alex Bolt clinched that tie 2-1 for Australia with a 6-3 6-7 (11-13) 6-3 victory over Fabian Marozsan and Zsombor Piros in the deciding doubles.

Peers reached this year’s Australian Open doubles quarter-finals with Slovakian Filip Polasek.

John Peers is Australia’s top doubles player and ranked in the world’s top 10. Picture: Matt King

“Anytime we get a chance to play in Australia, and Davis Cup especially, it’s really a special moment,” Peers said.

“Luckily, we’re back here so quickly after the Aussie swing and we’re all excited and looking forward to it. It’s a shame about the weather but lucky we’ve got a roof.

“Every time we play Davis Cup, it’s always high stakes … we believe in the team we’ve got (that) we can have a really big push this year.”

The first two singles rubbers are on Friday at Ken Rosewall Arena, with this weekend’s winning country advancing to the end-of-year Davis Cup Finals against 11 other rivals.