It has become a Christmas Day tradition Alex de Minaur could have only dreamt of as a boy while sitting on the family couch binge watching old videos of the greats of the game.
For the past few years, the 24-year-old has roused himself from bed, grabbed his racquets and set off for the home of Australian player and coach Tony Roche for a training session. A decent feed is always in the offing, but only after he has earned his appetite.
From the age of 13, when de Minaur decided to dedicate himself to tennis, he has made sacrifices to ensure he gets the best out of himself every time he steps out on court. And going to work on Christmas Day is another. But he considers it the rarest of gifts.
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Roche was one of those greats his dad Anibal, a restauranter and car wash operator, would make him watch whenever he managed to track down footage of former champions.
In an extended interview with Fox Cricket broadcaster Mark Howard’s podcast The Howie Games to be released on Thursday, de Minaur said it is a privilege to learn from legends.
“It is pretty surreal, to be honest. I’ve been fortunate enough to do Davis Cup weeks with him. I get to learn from him constantly,” de Minaur said.
“I have been going to practice at his house on Christmas Day (for) the last three or four years. It is a bit of a tradition. It is pretty surreal to me to be in this position.
“It is still a novelty for me from the first day to now. Every time I get to spend some time with him, I get to learn some more stuff, which is pretty cool for someone in my position.”
It is now 17 years since de Minaur played his first competitive match in a tournament held at White City, a historic but now decrepit site in Sydney that was once host to the Open.
In the midst of a family holiday back to Australia, he thought it would be good fun. But from the first point he was hooked on the thrill of competing. He wanted to win every single point.
It is a desire that has driven him from that moment onward, from a childhood where his family bounced back and forth between Sydney and Alicante, through fiscal challenges and ultimately into a life spent touring the world while representing his nation with distinction.
No Australian man has won the Australian Open since Mark Edmondson in 1976.
Grand slam champions Pat Cash and Lleyton Hewitt, a mentor of de Minaur, came close as finalists, while former world No.1 Pat Rafter was a semi-finalist as well.
Nick Kyrgios, a one-time national teammate and doubles partner, is the best-performed local man over the past decade as a quarter-finalist in 2015. But he is again sitting on the sidelines this year due to injury.
The burden of local hopes rests again on the shoulders of de Minaur, who has effectively been Australia’s leading man from his late teens, the fine 2022 flourish of Kyrgios aside.
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But the expectation does not worry de Minaur. It is something he actively embraces. He may not possess the pop and pizzazz of Kyrgios, but nor is he anywhere near as polarising.
De Minaur’s dash around the court, the brilliance of his reflexes, the cut and thrust of his multifaceted game and the burning ambition within have made him a winner.
He is a headline act. His Rd of 16 clash against 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic last year drew a television audience nationally of 730,000, which was the third highest for the tournament.
And his star is ascending. About 15 months ago, he had zero wins from 18 outings against Top 10 ranked rivals. Then he knocked off former US Open champion Daniil Medvedev in the Paris Masters.
Over the past 12 months, the wins against the best-of-the-best have come with increasing regularity to the point where he is the newest member of the elite Top 10 club.
He knocked off Djokovic form the first time in the United Cup in Perth a fortnight ago in between triumphs over top American Taylor Fritz and German Alexander Zverev, another who has had his measure for much of their history.
There is nothing de Minaur, who faces former Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic in the opening round on Rod Laver Arena on Monday night, loves more than giving his all for his country.
De Minaur is the 109th Australian to represent the country in Davis Cup. He has the number tattooed on his chest.
He convinced Roche, a French Open champion who has coached Hewitt, Pat Rafter, Roger Federer and Ivan Lendl, to ink his own number, 54, onto his skin as well. And he wears the green-and-gold with the pride of a true believer.
Australia gave de Minaur and his family a lifeline when the global financial crisis hit and crunched the family’s car wash business in Alicante. He has never forgotten the assistance and is determined to do all he can to repay the faith.
It is why, unlike his recent predecessors as Australian No.1 in Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic, he will always turn up for his country, a nation he has led to the last two Davis Cup finals.
“As you get to know me and get to see some of the decisions in my life, for me, when I was in a time of need and I needed help, Australia was there with open arms and had my back from day one,” de Minaur said.
“That, for me, is the biggest thing ever. I am a loyal guy and these things matter to me. From then … it was the easiest decision ever (to come back to Sydney).
“When I needed help, when I was definitely struggling, Australia was there. Tennis Australia was there to help me out … and I will do everything in my power to make them proud.”
KYRGIOS AND THE KID
On the eve of what was to be the biggest match in Alex de Minaur’s fledgling career at Wimbledon in 2018, Nick Kyrgios issued a word of warning to the scribes in the press.
A former boys finalist at The Championships, the teenager was about to step on to the most famous court in tennis for the first time to play Spanish legend Rafael Nadal and was the centre of attention.
The Canberran had been confident de Minaur had a bright future ahead of him from the time he served as an ‘orange boy’ to the Davis Cup squad a few years earlier.
Kyrgios knew the kid was special. He watched him at the Davis Cup tie soaking up the advice of his elders and wondered at his enthusiasm and dedication to a sport he can take or leave.
But he was also worried. Rarely able to camouflage his feelings, Kyrgios eyed a press who had covered the occasionally absurd antics of both himself and Tomic with suspicion.
“He has got a good team around him. So that’s good. Hopefully the media just leaves him alone,” Kyrgios said.
Quizzed later in the press conference as to what he meant by that, Kyrgios demurred initially, stating; “It was just a joke. You don’t have to take everything, like, so serious, man.”
“Have him if you want. I’m just saying, like, he’s going to have a big career. Don’t hype him up too much,” he said.
“Like, if he beats Nadal, don’t say, ‘This guy is going to win Wimbledon’. Let him alone. Let him do his thing.”
He never needed to be worried. de Minaur has had some challenges but has always been his own man, someone more than capable of dealing with the adulation and rebounding from difficult experiences on and off the court.
Six years on from Kyrgios’s assessment, de Minaur enters the Australian Open as the nation’s great hope of ending the drought dating back to Edmondson’s upset triumph in 1976.
And Kyrgios, who will miss his home grand slam for the second straight year, will instead be in the commentary box tasked with discussing, and perhaps growing, the hype around him.
It is a fascinating juncture in the careers of the two men who have been the standard bearers in men’s tennis in Australia for the past decade, admittedly in starkly contrasting ways.
After enjoying the best period of his career in 2022 – he would have secured a Top 10 berth had Wimbledon not been stripped of ranking points – the 28-year-old has scarcely played since.
Preferring to play a lucrative exhibition in the Middle East instead of the Davis Cup de Minaur is so desperate to win for his country, Kyrgios sustained a significant knee injury.
He struggled to move in Stuttgart in June on his return to tennis and withdrew from Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament citing a wrist problem.
Love him or hate him, tennis is arguably better for his presence given he has the showman’s ability to draw new fans to the sport, though there are some who would debate that.
Instead Kyrgios will be working at Melbourne Park as a tennis analyst for various networks, which follows a recent stint doing the same for The Tennis Channel at the ATP Tour Finals.
The quality of what he can offer as a pundit might surprise critics. For all of his bombast, sizzling serves and ferocious forehands, the 2022 Wimbledon finalist can be an astute tactician on the court.
And while he has endured far more stoushes with the press than the seven ATP titles he has won, the one-time world No.13 can be generous in his analysis and support of fellow Aussies and other peers.
An assessment of de Minaur back in 2017 after he had won his first grand slam match at the Australian Open is a case in point.
“I don’t know if you’d want to pick my brain,” Kyrgios quipped at the time.
“I know he is capable. He has had a great junior career. (He made) finals in Wimbledon. He knows how to play. I don’t really need to tell him anything.
“He obviously knows how to hit the ball pretty well. I feel like our game styles are a little different.
“(But) he is doing great. He can have a great career. (He is a) great athlete. A good competitor out there. Yep, he is looking good.”
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STICKING IT TO THE DOUBTERS
De Minaur is well aware of the doubters and their criticisms of him. That he is too short. Does not pack enough punch. Fighting out of his weight division. And it drives him. Not to despair, as frustrating as it can be, but more to get better and better.
Incremental improvement is his mantra. Add a little weight here. Pick up some pop there. And find a flourish that makes him even harder to beat. Do it on repeat. Every single day.
As a 13-year-old it became his daily routine. Tennis for a couple of hours in the morning. Then weights. Some school in the afternoon. And then back on court for more training.
A year after posting a victory on debut at Melbourne Park in 2017, he reached two ATP Tour titles, including the Next Gen Championships, with Zverev and Stefanos Tsistispas his conquerors in those big matches.
A massive jump in the rankings earned him the title as the ATP Tour’s Newcomer of the Year and he shared the Newcombe Medal with Ash Barty. The assessment of Kyrgios and others was spot on.
In 2019 he broke through on home soil at the Sydney International on his favourite court, Ken Rosewall Arena, and he has won another six ATP titles since then, with his most recent success coming in Acapulco last year.
A lover of tennis history, in part because of the videos his dad once made him watch, he has great respect for former greats including Rosewall, who gave his seal of approval a fortnight ago.
“Alex has all the necessary parts of the game that’s going to improve and he has shown that, certainly, in the past 12 months,” Rosewall told ATPTour.com
“His game has kind of come up to another level, with some good wins that he has had more recently, and just how well he is playing.
“That little bit of extra confidence that he has put in his game, to give him some more variation, is certainly making him one … of the strong players on the ATP circuit. His gradual improvement is going to help him become one of the top players.”
De Minaur was 69kg a couple of years ago. Now he is 76kg. The hours in the gym and the protein shakes are having an impact.
Zverev noted after their clash in the United Cup semi-final in Sydney that he was packing more pace on both his second serve and also his forehand than in previous meetings.
The Sydneysider’s backhand has always been brilliant. But he now seems to be finding more acute angles from his forehand wing and is able to finish points more rapidly.
Dual-US Open champion Pat Rafter told foxsports.com.au leading into the Australian Open that it is evident de Minaur was determined to be the best player he could possibly be.
“He does not have the serve of a Kyrgios. But he has the mentality of a Lleyton Hewitt, which is awesome,” Rafter said.
“He is a kid who really wants to be the best player that he can be, and I love that about him. And he prepares so well, which I also love. I like his progression. I like the way he goes about his business.”
On Saturday, Djokovic offered his voice to those who have noted the improvement in the Australian hopeful, having seen it firsthand during a 6-4 6-4 loss to de Minaur in Perth.
“I know that he’s capable of doing big things. He’s one of the quickest, if not the quickest, tennis player we have in the game,” the 24-time major champion said.
“He’s got an all-round tennis game. He can play equally well on defence and offence. He’s improving.
“Obviously (with) Lleyton Hewitt by his side as a mentor, who has had a pretty similar style of tennis, I must say, it helps a lot to guide him … mentally in this process of competing at the highest level.
“I know that the expectations are high from him as they normally are from Kyrgios or any other top Australian player when they play at home. There is a great chance that he can do very well and go deep in the tournament.”
There has been a lot of focus on what de Minaur does not have in his game. But there should be more appreciation for a skill set, one that is improving with every match, that has taken him into the Top 10.
“I’m playing with a lot of confidence at the moment, a lot of belief, a very positive mindset. Ultimately, I’m trying to be more aggressive and bring a lot more variety to my game,” he said on Friday.
“I think a lot of people have watched me run side to side endlessly. But I do have other layers to my game, which I’ve been able to kind of show at the start of the year. That’s the plan moving forward.”
de Minaur beats Zverev to crack top 10 | 02:05
DISARMING THE MISSILE
Milos ‘The Missile’ Raonic is the first man standing in his way at Melbourne Park.
If the Canadian is at or near his peak, it will be a formidable challenge for the Australian hopeful given the former Wimbledon finalist’s serve is one of the biggest weapons in the world.
de Minaur was able to snare a big win over Raonic as a teenager in Brisbane by taking on the rise a serve so powerful that it almost cut his compatriot John Millman in two during a clash at Wimbledon a few years ago.
“In the first game of the match, I decided to receive first. Everyone is telling me ‘Raonic, his serve is unbelievable. Watch out. Give yourself some room. Give yourself some time,’” de Minaur recalled during The Howie Games Podcast.
“So I decided to stand on the baseline. To stand even closer than I normally would, thinking ‘Let’s go. I’m ready. What have you got?’.
“The first serve was 237 km/h (at my) body and it almost hit me on the full. I was like, whatever, I’ll do it again. The next point, he does the same thing. And I thought, ‘This could be a long day, but I am not going to shy away from this’.”
A couple of games later, he was able to pounce.
“Due to a bit of scouting, I expected him to go quite big on the second serve,” he said.
“And I was waiting for the right side and he went for a pretty big second serve and I spanked a winner and just yelled out, screaming my head off, and from then on I was … going off every point. I saw the ball like a football that day. It was probably one of my best returning days ever.”
Raonic, formerly the world No.3, has been riddled with injuries over the past couple of years, but he did manage to snare a win at Wimbledon last July.
He edged American Frances Tiafoe in an exhibition at Kooyong last week and has arrived in Melbourne in good spirits as he looks to build towards an extended stint back on the tour.
The 33-year-old may lack match fitness but de Minaur is mindful of the threat that Raonic, a semifinalist in Melbourne in 2016 and a quarter-finalist on four other occasions, poses.
“Ultimately against these types of opponents, if you can get the serve back, you’re putting yourself in a decent position,” he said.
“More importantly, you have got to look after your own serve. That means staying focused at all times. You can’t give a cheap game … because that could almost mean the set, right?
“I’ll probably look at the match we played a while ago and see if I can get something. (Actually) probably more of his recent matches.
“Ultimately, I’ll go out there on court and I’ll problem solve once I get there.”
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