Alex De Minaur has joked he may bring his new lucky charm on tour full-time after a noisy and passionate young fan helped inspire his incredible run to the French Open quarter-finals.
The 25-year-old’s stunning win over world No.5 Daniil Medvedev makes De Minaur the first Australian man to reach the Roland Garros final eight since Lleyton Hewitt last did it in 2004.
Di Minaur will now try to become the first Australian man since Pat Rafter in 1997 to reach the semi-finals when he faces German fourth seed Alexander Zverev on Wednesday night (AEST).
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In his corner will be his new No.1 fan ‘Paul’, a young French fan who inspired him in a comeback victory over powerful German Jan-Lennard Struff two days earlier.
De Minaur put out a plea on social media to identify the fan after that victory and the youngster — and his friends — received a special invite to Monday night’s (AEST) victory.
“He’s managed a miracle (for me so I) might have to get him on tour week in, week out,” de Minaur said.
“We found him obviously through the beautiful world of social media, we ended up finding him. We got him to the match. He came with his whole crew, with his mates and his coach.
“It was great to see him out there. Again, even on that big court, I could hear him after every single point. It’s a distinctive voice, so it’s great to see.”
The pair shared a warm embrace after the win over Medvedev with De Minaur, with an on-court interview held entriely in French leaving many surprised, and impressed, with the Australian.
Speaking in French, he grabbed the boy’s shoulder and said: “This is my best fan here, Paul.
“I want to say thank you. After the tournament, the next round you have to be with me too.”
Paul replied: “Yes. Every day, All the time, I’m going to try come out until you win.
“We hope you win. Honestly it was awesome, I hope you are going to win. It’s incredible, thank you.”
The pair high-fived and De Minaur earnestly said: “I listened to you on every point. Thank you.”
Tennis commentator Bastien Fachan shared the footage on social media and said: “Alex de Minaur and his little French fan/lucky charm Paul are the most wholesome story of this year’s Roland-Garros.”
One fan wrote: “It’s impossible to hate on De Minaur. His tennis is amazing, his attitude is amazing, and he even spoke French.”
A second said: “The biggest shock of the Medvedev versus De Minaur match for me was finding out that Alex could speak French.”
Another posted: “Alex de Minaur so bloody impressive – not only towels up Medvedev – but jumps on in pure French to address the crowd. I can’t understand him but that is very respectful and shows there’s many more strings to the racquet.”
De Minaur spent the first five years of his life in Sydney, relocated with his family to Alicante, Spain before returning to Australia at age 13.
He is fluent in English, Spanish and clearly speaks some handy French too.
De Minaur has also vowed to keep his new superfan around.
“I think he’ll be … chilling with me tomorrow in my practice day, and of course he’ll be there for the very next match,” De Minaur said.
— with news.com.au