AO19 Ones to Watch: Alex de Minaur
LAST November, before a well-earned vacation, Alex de Minaur stopped in at the ATP Finals in London to pick up his peer-voted gong for ATP Newcomer of the Year. But rather than reflect on a dream season in which he rocketed up the rankings from No.208 to No.31, the 19-year-old was looking ahead.
“This is incredible,” De Minaur exclaimed of London’s O2 Arena and the glittering, season-ending finale for the elite top eight. “I’ll do everything in my power to one day hopefully get here.”
If De Minaur’s breakout 2018 is any indication, his arrival in the top echelon could come a lot sooner than expected.
In a 2018 season studded with air-punching moments, it took the likes of Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic and Alexander Zverev to stop the the 70kg stripling making an even more dramatic breakthrough.
De Minaur made two ATP finals, reached the third rounds at both Wimbledon and the US Open, made a hugely impressive Davis Cup debut, won a first Challenger title at the Nottingham Open, played off for the Next Gen ATP title and, by October, overtook Nick Kyrgios as the new Aussie No.1. And all before he qualified for his driver’s licence.
“I never expected almost anything that happened this year,” said the competitive animal dubbed ‘Demon’ by his fellow Aussies, at the Next Gen Finals in Milan, his last event for 2018.
“It’s been a hell of a year. I’ve enjoyed every second of it and it’s given me a hunger for more.”
The second-youngest man in the top 100, De Minaur was another harbinger of change in 2018.
A year that had a ‘future-is-now’ tinge to it was capped by 21-year-old Alexander Zverev storming through the ATP Finals, upending Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to put the Old Guard on notice.
Born in Sydney to Spanish mother Esther and father Anibal, a native of Uruguay, De Minaur divides his time between his hometown and his parents’ base of Alicante, Spain, where he spent his formative tennis years, from ages five to 13. The family returned to Sydney in 2012, and De Minaur, the eldest of four children, remembers thinking: “I used to represent Spain but I always felt Australian.” His parents relocated to Spain in 2016 but Alex stayed in Sydney.
Embraced by Aussies who see him as Lleyton Hewitt’s natural successor - same undersized frame and outsized competitive spirit - De Minaur actually travels with Spaniard Adolfo Gutierrez, his coach since the Aussie was eight years old. “He’s pretty much watched me grow as a player and as a person as well. He knows my game insanely well.”
But the Australian Davis Cup captain, who took De Minaur under his wing after watching him reach the 2016 Wimbledon junior final, is a powerful mentor. “Growing up, my idol was always Lleyton,” confirms De Minaur. “I remember watching him play and going outside onto the garage door and practising, trying to be like him. His fighting ability and his never-say-die attitude are things that I’ve always wanted to replicate when I play.”
Hewitt clearly sees his younger self in De Minaur, not least the hard-driving work ethic, and his belief in the youngster has had a big effect. “After every match he sends me a message and we have a bit of a chat,” De Minaur said in Milan. “And it’s been like that the whole year. So it’s pretty crazy.”
Like former No.1 Hewitt, the youngest-ever man to top the ATP rankings, De Minaur relies on counterpunching smarts, flinty fight and blazing speed to pressure opponents. “I had to develop a little bit of craft,” he recalls of gruelling days developing on Spanish clay. “I have to work harder for my points.”
Australia was where it all started for the teenager two summers ago. Brisbane was the site of his ATP debut, hometown Sydney brought his first main-tour win (over Benoit Paire) and, aged 17 at Australian Open 2017, he notched his first Grand Slam win, overcoming match points against Austrian Gerard Melzer to win in five sets.
Back in Brisbane last January, De Minaur upset world No.24 Milos Raonic en route to the semis. His maiden final in Sydney ended in defeat to fellow young gun Daniil Medvedev, but De Minaur was the ATP’s first back-to-back teenage semifinalist since Nadal in 2005. Tomas Berdych at Melbourne Park was a bridge too far, although De Minaur took a set off the world No.19, riding a delirious wave of crowd support in Melbourne Arena.
A very different challenge awaits at AO19. De Minaur will be one of the most-watched players at Melbourne Park, likely seeded for the first time at a major. Everyone will want a glimpse of his meteoric rise from first-round hopeful to Aussie leader and potential star. The future is now.