After a significant breakthrough in Paris this month, Alex de Minaur headed to London and spent his brief “break” swatting tennis balls at Wimbledon and whacking golf balls on courses around town while finetuning his fantasy football teams.
That scarcely sounds relaxing but the switch from clay, where he was a quarterfinalist at Roland Garros, to grass proved as good as a holiday for de Minaur, who continued his winning ways with a title in the Netherlands last week.
His ninth ATP title pushed the driven Australian to a career-high ranking of No.7, with de Minaur preferencing his latest rise as more important than his success in s’Hertogenbosch.
Watch selected NRL, AFL, SSN games plus every F1 qualifying session and race live in 4K on Kayo. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial today.
“Obviously, career highs never come too easily, so there’s always a lot of work coming behind the scenes and a lot of validation as well at being able to kind of reach that number and kind of solidifying that spot in the top 10, which has always been the goal,” he said.
“I got to London and (the) very first day I stepped on the grass and hit in the morning, played golf in the afternoon and I did that for three days straight before going to Holland. That was my prep. A lot of golf, a lot of tennis on the grass and it was a perfect recipe for Holland.”
The top 10 ranking beside de Minaur’s name is far from the only measure with which is rise towards the pointy end of tennis is apparent.
His Australian mates have marvelled at his work ethic and the world’s best players have been glowing in their appraisal of the development of his serve and overall strength on court.
But it is also evident in the demands on his time.
After his success in the Netherlands, the 25-year-old arrived at the prestigious Queen’s Club on Monday and completed a series of television and radio commitments, along with quick photographic shots associated with his qualification for the Olympics.
A glitch with his shirt – the Olympics shirt provided was too small for the Aussie to fit into – it was a seamless day in the sun for de Minaur.
A finalist at the Queen’s Club last year when beaten in a high-level final by Spanish sensation Carlos Alcaraz, who then went on to win his first Wimbledon title, de Minaur is delighted to be returning to the tournament as the No.2 seed.
While seven of de Minaur’s nine titles have been claimed on hard courts, grass is his favourite surface and he is hoping the lessons from Europe will help at Wimbledon.
“If anything it is just the confidence boost,” he said.
“The fact that normally in the past, I’ve finished the clay swing and maybe didn’t have that much confidence, just because results hadn’t gone my way.
“I know the grass court season has always been one that treats me quite well. But, again, you don’t have those matches under your belt that you can really rely on.
“The fact that I had all that positive momentum going in just made this transition to the grass a lot easier and a lot quicker.”
The dual-grand slam quarterfinalist opens his Queen’s Club campaign against Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who pushed Novak Djokovic to five sets at Roland Garros earlier in June.
Their only prior meeting was at the Australian Open two years ago, with the Sydneysider successful in four sets.
But de Minaur, whose partner Katie Boulter also claimed a WTA Tour title in Nottingham on Sunday, will need to adjust his game slightly for the quicker grass courts at the Queen’s Club.
“This is one of my favourite weeks of the year. It’s no secret I’ve enjoyed it every single time. I think it’s a special tournament and these grass courts are definitely special,” he said.
“Probably the only thing that changes a little bit this year is … the quick turnaround time from Holland where the courts are a little bit different.
“Here they’re definitely a little bit quicker and a little bit slicker. I’m going to do my best and hopefully I can have a quick adaptation period and come out tomorrow and play a tough match against a quality opponent.”
A Real Madrid fan who has kept a keen eye on the European Championship which began on Friday, de Minaur was a precocious footballer as a boy before deciding his best hopes on grass were between the baselines.
“It was a very long time ago and (I was) so young, so you never know what the right decision was. But sitting where I am now, I am quite happy with the decision I made and so far it has been the right one,” he said.
“(But) I love my football, especially at this time of the year. I’m in so many different kinds of leagues and fantasy football (competitions) and all these kinds of different things that I’m definitely doing my best to try and keep track of all the matches. It’s a fun time to be a sports fan.”