Social media critics powering ‘very dangerous’ de Minaur towards deep Open run

Alex de Minaur caught Alexander Zverev on the hop, confounded him with a back-breaking forehand he did not know was in the Australian’s armoury and rattled him with a suddenly swifter second serve.

Zverev knew these were not typical de Minaur traits. The German world No.7 had beaten him six of the previous seven times they’d met and thought he had him pretty well worked out. Turns out that was precisely the type of attitude de Minaur was banking on.

Because in knocking off his third top-10 opponent in a week and finally breaching that barrier himself, the 24-year-old was not just showing Zverev and Novak Djokovic and Taylor Fritz that he has what it takes to do properly big things in tennis. He was also showing every sceptic who had jumped on social media to tell him he does not.

Saturday night’s three-set United Cup semi-final singles triumph confirmed the world No.12 will become a top-10 player for the first time when the ATP rankings are updated on Monday, making him the first since his long-time mentor and United Cup captain Lleyton Hewitt back in 2006.

In the knowledge he has now achieved a goal he has sought since practising on the back courts at Olympic Park as a 12-year-old, the Sydney-raised, Spain-based de Minaur quietly explained how online trolls have fuelled every tiny improvement to a game getting so big it is being talked about in Australian Open semi-finals terms.

“Look, everyone’s going to have their opinion,” he said. “It’s the way it is. Some people feel entitled to voice their opinions, and they believe that their opinions have a lot of merit.

Alex de Minaur during his statement defeat of Alexander Zverev at Ken Rosewell Arena on Saturday night.Credit: Getty

“But at the end of the day, what happens with me is I see all these things, I see all the reasons why I’m not going to be a good player, I’m not going to make it, I’m not going to improve, and I store it in the back of my head and use it as my motivation. Ultimately it’s my drive that has put me in this position, and the fact that I want to get the absolute most out of myself.

“This last week has helped my record significantly against top-10 opponents, right? I’ve shown that I’ve been able to do it, back it up, and in two different cities. It’s a great feeling. I’m really happy with how 2024 is
going, and hopefully I can keep it going.”

Zverev warned grand slam rivals that de Minaur now constituted a “very dangerous” opponent compared to the man he last faced almost 18 months ago.

“I feel this is the best Alex has played against me,” said Zverev, who was due to represent Germany in Sunday night’s United Cup final against Poland at Ken Rosewell Arena. “Probably he has played great matches in his career, but against me, from what I can judge, it was the best match that he’s played.

“Usually he’s taking his backhand super, super early. He always did that in his career - he’s changing a lot [in] direction. But he did exactly the same with his forehand today. His forehand has always been probably the shakier shot, and today it wasn’t - it was the better shot.

“That surprised me, and his serve surprised me. His second serve especially surprised me. It was going 160-165km/h, which never used to be the case. His second serve was always kind of a weak spot. He played amazing. He beat Novak in straight sets a few days ago. He beat me today. He’s in very good form, and he’s very dangerous at the moment.”

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