‘I need you for the next round’: Demon hunting for young fan who inspired him to victory

Alex de Minaur probably doesn’t mind rain delays any more.

The world No.11 is the first Australian man since Lleyton Hewitt in 2007 to reach the fourth round at Roland-Garros, fighting back from a break down in the second and third sets to oust German Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in a match halted for more than four hours.

Alex de Minaur has stormed into the fourth round at Roland-Garros for the first time.Credit: Getty Images

But the news was not so good for countryman Thanasi Kokkinakis, whose comeback heroics fell narrowly short of making it two Australian men in the last 16 for the first time in 23 years.

Kokkinakis went down 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 5-7, 6-3 to American No.12 seed Taylor Fritz in another near four-hour epic as he sought a third-straight five-set triumph and second in a row from a two-set deficit.

The South Australian, who was in the third round for the third time, repeatedly threatened Fritz on serve in the early stages of the fifth set, including break points in the third and fifth games.

Fritz unleashed a series of clutch serves to escape before a stroke of luck helped him break Kokkinakis for a 4-2 lead. Kokkinakis dragged a forehand wide going for a winner on the first point, then had a fresh-air swing on the next after the ball barely bounced, which is one of the vagaries of playing on clay.

He failed to recover, ballooning a backhand beyond the baseline to concede serve to love – and Fritz, whose 56 winners were one fewer than Kokkinakis’ tally, cruised to the finish line from there.

Kokkinakis battled past fellow Australian Alexei Popyrin in a four-and-a-half-hour slugfest in the first round then fought back from two sets down to outlast Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri in his next match, declaring afterwards he was “running on fumes”.

De Minaur celebrated his victory with gusto, roaring towards a section of the crowd and then his player’s box, which included his co-coach Matt Reid, agent Kathryn Oyeniyi, mother Esther and girlfriend Katie Boulter.

He was also particularly grateful to a young fan in the crowd – whom he is now trying to identify and find.

“That young lad was there from the very first point ’til the last with five hours of rain delay,” de Minaur told reporters.

“He was this little kid that at every single change of ends, every single point I won, he was screaming at my face.

“I’m looking at him and thinking if I was a fan, I would probably be back home, because it was bloody cold out there!

“I don’t understand what this kid is doing, but, oh, he gave me life.

“Every single change of ends I’m looking at him, locking eyes with him.

“And at the end I just gave him a hug. I was, like, mate... it was a relief more than anything.

“It was amazing. I appreciate this kid, the fact that he’s spent 10 hours at the court today in the freezing cold pumping me up. I was happy that I was able to get a win together with him.”

Asked what prize he had given the kid, de Minaur sounded almost embarrassed.

“Gave him a towel. Actually, I would have given him everything in my bag. I mean, I just wasn’t thinking straight with the emotions, but he deserved everything!”

All three of de Minaur’s matches so far have been delayed or interrupted, with the event being mockingly branded the “Drench Open”.

Rain and delays have been a theme at this year’s Roland-Garros tournament.Credit: Getty Images

Only Roland-Garros’ two main courts – Court Suzanne-Lenglen and Court Philippe-Chatrier – have a retractable roof, and de Minaur has not avoided off-Broadway scheduling despite his rankings ascent. He beat Struff all the way out on court 14.

De Minaur had never advanced beyond the second round at the claycourt major in seven previous attempts, but is now one win away from matching his best grand slam result anywhere.

A familiar opponent, fifth seed Daniil Medvedev, stands between him and the quarter-finals in a showdown certain to be on one of Roland-Garros’ two biggest courts.

“[It was] another huge mental battle. I would probably say it was one of my best performances mentally I’ve had in my career to turn that match around with the conditions, with everything really against me,” de Minaur said.

“I’m extremely stoked to have made the second week of Roland-Garros.”

Jan-Lennard Struff was in a commanding position against de Minaur.Credit: Getty Images

De Minaur is amid easily the best year of his career, having already progressed to the fourth round at the Australian Open – where he went agonisingly close to making the quarter-finals – won back-to-back titles at Acapulco and made the Rotterdam final.

But this might be the 25-year-old’s finest hour, given his previous struggles on the red dirt, and keeps him on track to again gatecrash the top 10.

The Medvedev clash will be their first on this surface but ninth in total. The Russian leads 6-2, but they split their past four meetings, including de Minaur claiming his maiden top-five scalp against him at the Paris Masters in late 2022, in a moment he often credits for his career surge.

“It’s a completely different match-up to today. Today, I was on the back foot at all stages [and] had a player who was trying to take control, come to the net, not staying in too long of rallies,” de Minaur said.

“Against Medvedev, it’s going to be a lot of gruelling rallies, a lot of tactical awareness from both of us, a lot of variety, a lot of kind of change of pace [and] good movement from both, so it should be fun to play him on the clay ... hopefully we can play a good match and I can go out there and show what I can do.”

Struff was not the same player once play finally resumed with him leading 2-0 in the third set, whereas de Minaur – well known for his mental toughness – re-emerged in brilliant fashion.

After both players exchanged holds, de Minaur broke his rival’s serve twice in a row to reel off five consecutive games in a stunning period to snatch the third set and the momentum.

Struff will rue a litany of errors that is always a cardinal sin against a dogged competitor like de Minaur, who pounced on the 41st-ranked German’s sudden frailty as the crowd came alive.

A double-fault kick-started Struff’s demise in the sixth game of the third set, and a fluffed overhead in the third game of the fourth set accelerated his exit before a forehand halfway up the net gifted the Australian the break four points later. Even still, de Minaur had to dig himself out of some challenging service games of his own, which was a theme throughout the match.

Struff brought up two separate break-back points after dropping serve but could not convert either. He had two more chances as de Minaur attempted to go 5-3 ahead, only for the Sydneysider to again perform his best Houdini impression.

De Minaur needed all his fighting qualities to outlast Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff.Credit: AP

Struff converted only four of his 14 break points overall, compared to de Minaur’s seven from 10, the last of which came in the final game of the contest as he sealed his fourth-round spot.

De Minaur also endured a one-hour break in play during his second-round dismissal of Jaume Munar, with his mental edge over most opponents proving an even greater weapon at this tournament.

He is adamant he is a “completely different player” on clay these days, even if Paris’ gloomy conditions did not help his cause against Struff, in particular.

Clay already blunts de Minaur’s famed ability to steal time away from his opponents, whereas Struff – this year’s Munich Open champion on the same surface – thrives on having extra time to tee off on his forehand.

Struff did most of his damage off that wing, including caning a return winner in the third game of the match to secure his first break and send an early warning of his racquet fireworks.

De Minaur managed to break Struff back in the next game, but was rarely untroubled on his own serve.

In fact, by the time he trudged off in the rain delay he had only once avoided a 30-all scenario or worse from 11 service games.

The only time he did not in that period was a love hold the game before he broke Struff to claim the second set.

De Minaur admirably absorbed the relentless pressure – and Struff’s thumping groundstrokes – to hang in, which eventually proved crucial.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic credited a wave of support from the crowd for helping him avoid an upset at the hands of Lorenzo Musetti in a third-round thriller that ended in the early hours of Sunday morning, Paris time.

The world No.1 is renowned for his willpower and stamina but conceded his title defence had been on shaky ground when his Italian opponent took a two sets to one lead during the 4½-hour match.

“I was in real trouble on the court and he was playing some really amazing tennis. I didn’t know really what to do,” the 37-year-old said.

“From both hands, he was getting a lot of balls back, winners from both corners. Good serves running every ball down the court. It didn’t feel great playing him that third set and the beginning of the fourth.

“The [crowd] start chanting my name and I just felt a great new wave of willpower and energy. I really needed that push, I really needed that energy.

“I think I was a different player from that moment onwards. And I think from that moment, I probably lost only one game in the rest of the match. I was on a high, riding that wave.”

Defeat would have ended the Serbian’s quest for a record-extending 25th grand slam trophy and resulted in him losing the No.1 ranking to Musetti’s compatriot Jannik Sinner later this month.

Djokovic ultimately prevailed 7-5, 6-7 (6-8), 2-6, 6-3, 6-0.

with AAP, Reuters

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