Australian Open 2025: King of the kids Alex De Minaur moves through to banana-skin game

So many people at Melbourne Park have so many questions for Alex de Minaur that the kids who did the coin toss raided his press conference.

Alex de Minaur in action against Tristan Boyer (USA) on Rod Laver Arena. Picture: Mark Stewart

Quick question. Getting used to all these questions?

“That’s a good question,” Alex de Minaur grinned after moving into round three of the Australian Open with a straight-sets win over American Tristan Boyer.

His quest to end Australia’s 58-year men’s singles drought at the national championship comes with an endless array of off-court commitments he doesn’t face anywhere else in the world.

He’d getting used to the intrusions. “I think probably the biggest thing is you’ve got to realise that your days are going to be long, right?” de Minaur says of the spotlight.

“There’s no hiding behind the facts. Whether you’re spending four, five, six hours just purely working on yourself, whether it’s on court or off court, whether it’s rehab, recovery, whatever it may be, in the gym – often there’s long hours off the court, as well, with media commitments and things of the sort.

“It’s really about planning, about having a healthy balance. I’ve got a great team that helps me every step of the way.”

De Minaur was far from perfect despite the lopsided 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 scoreline against Boyer. I’d give him a 6/10 by his standards but he did what he had to do. Get through to the next round.

“As you win more matches, there’s going to be more media attention, but for me nothing can change who I am as a person and what I need to do on the court. The priorities are always going to be what I do on the court. That’s trying to improve and be a better version of myself than I was the day before. That’s my No 1 priority. We’ll find a way to fit the media side of things around that.”

That was a decent answer to the question. “You get used to answering the same questions,” he smiled. “Every morning before I walk to the courts, I rehearse my answers in front of the mirror, my generic answers. But look, like everything, with practice it becomes more natural. You get used to certain things. I’m lucky. You guys are nice to me. You don’t ask me too many tough questions. So I do appreciate that.”

You’re welcome. We’ll give you a ruthless grilling at a later date. So many people at Melbourne Park have so many questions for de Minaur that the kids who helped with the coin toss raided his press conference.

Question from one kid: “Do you have any friends on the ­tennis court?”

De Minaur: “I do have some friends. I think most of my friends are normally the other Australians that we share a lot of time with. Whether it’s Jordan Thompson, Rinky Hijikata, Thanasi Kokkinakis – I would say all of the Australians. It’s mainly because we spend so much of the year away from home that we’re always kind of hanging out with each other, going to dinners with each other. It’s a great way to kind of keep that camaraderie going.”

Question from the other kid: “What’s the most funniest thing that has happened on a tennis court to you?”

De Minaur: “The funniest thing? Let’s see. I’ll give you the most embarrassing one that you can probably search for later. I spent a whole change of ends trying to peel a banana, and I couldn’t peel the banana. I thought no one had noticed, right? I thought, ‘OK, I’ll be safe.’

“Then as soon as I finished the match, it was all over social media, on Europort, this and that. It’s safe to say a lot of people saw me not being able to peel a ­banana. From then, I’ve learned.”

De Minaur faces world No. 31 Francisco Cerundolo on Saturday. The Argentinian has beaten defending Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner and a host of top 10 players. He’s a slippery customer. It’s a banana-skin game.