Alex de Minaur made the bold declaration that he will return to his best fluid and ride better than ever on Australian Openwith victory over his debilitating hip injury now finally in sight.
Australia’s No.1 has sprung a bit of a surprise by entering this weekend’s Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) event in London after a long, injury-plagued but breakout campaign in 2024.
He even admitted ahead of the three-day tournament, which starts on Friday, that he still struggles with the pain barrier when competing in both the recent ATP and Davis Cup finals.
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But the 25-year-old offered an upward update on his fitness in an interview with AAP on Thursday, explaining: “Everything is aimed at a pain-free, positive Australian Open starting next month.
“It’s absolutely my priority and I feel pretty good, pretty fit. Every day I feel like I’m moving more like my old self, more fluid and have less of that mental barrier (over the injury) that I was also dealing with.
“There’s still a little bit of pain (from the freak hip injury he picked up at Wimbledon) but I’m sure in Australia I’ll be pain-free and able to move even better than before.”
That bodes well for the world No.9, who revealed that cracking the world’s top 10 in early 2024. is his favorite time of year and predicts that 2025 could be even better.
“I’m happy to be going in the right direction to start the new season, hopefully painlessly. This is my biggest goal. Since Wimbledon, the time I’ve been able to play has been in a lot of pain and it’s been bothering me.
“There was always pain. Some days I was able to push harder than others. There was, but there was so much to play for that you just get over it.”
De Minaur admitted he wasn’t supposed to play in the off-tour event ‘UTS’, a three-day eight-man event featuring fellow top-10 seed Andrei Rublev and fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, but felt it was an important performance after 10 practice rounds. days after the Davis Cup, for his progress.
UTS is a stripped-down, unashamedly youth-oriented, rock-and-roll version of tennis created by coach Patrick Muratoglu and Alex Popirin, the businessman father of Australian star Alex Popirin, featuring time limits, one serve per point and a higher rate of “points on pressure’, all set to a chaotic musical background.
De Minaur, a big supporter from the beginning, thinks: “Just the fact that the music is playing, the lights are on, the people in the crowd are moving, everyone is shouting, helps me work on my focus.
“There probably won’t be many times you’ll see me at the end of the season with a foot in the Maldives, anyway. I tend to go back to work pretty quickly after Davis Cup.
“There’s not a lot of time to prepare for the start of next year, so I like to be ahead of the curve and have good off-season work. So we had two days off after the Davis Cup – and then it was back to work.
“It’s a great event to test the water, see what works with the little tweaks you make and get ready for Australia.”
However, Thursday’s preparations were a little lighter.
De Minaur, inevitably referred to as ‘The Demon’ in UTS parlance, indulged in some nonsense in the run-up to the match, playing doubles alongside Holger ‘The Viking’ Rune, with the pair using cricket bats, pans and guitars instead of rackets against West Correct Ham’s equipped football duo of Thomas Soucek and Vladimir Kufal.
The tennis players are still believed to prevail, with de Minaur last seen wearing the Hammers’ No.6 jersey, recognizing his highest ATP ranking.
