London: Alex de Minaur briefly lost his competitive fire in the dust of the European claycourt swing this year.
That is a problem for any elite athlete, but particularly one such as de Minaur, who has made an outstanding living from out-willing, outrunning and outlasting his opponents.
Clay will never be the world No.6’s favourite surface, but he enjoyed a career-best season on it last year before a shock second-round defeat from two sets up against Alexander Bublik at Roland-Garros. This year, it was far tougher going, at least by his lofty standards.
Then, with Carlos Alcaraz sidelined with a wrist injury and Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic suffering shock early exits, there was a huge opportunity in Paris for the tormented group behind that legendary trio.
That was why it hurt de Minaur, his self-professed harshest critic, so much to again relinquish a hot start to depart the claycourt major in a four-set loss to Jakub Mensik in the round of 32.
A heart-to-heart followed between de Minaur and his team, including the coach, Adolfo Gutierrez, who has guided him since he was a child. He previously gave up obsessing over his ranking because it left him exhausted and burnt out, yet now he was lacking motivation on the weekly tour grind.
With the grasscourt season on the horizon, de Minaur needed something to change.
“I was missing a little bit of the fire that kept me going,” de Minaur told this masthead from the All England club’s balcony overlooking centre court.
“I would have normally said I didn’t need to look at the rankings, but after a couple of down weeks, and feeling a little bit like I’m in a slump, I felt like I wasn’t sure why I was doing it.
“I worked harder, I put more hours in, but I wasn’t really sure what I needed to get out of that slump. That change from clay onto the grass was when we, for the first time, started looking at shorter-term goals.”
Team Demon knew that Alcaraz was also missing Wimbledon, so they set a goal for de Minaur to break into the top five for the first time, which would have resulted in a top-four seeding at the grasscourt major.
The Australian star has reached seven grand slam quarter-finals, including in London two years ago, without going further, so the chance to not play a higher-ranked opponent before the semi-finals was enticing.
Losing to American Brandon Nakashima in the Queen’s Club quarter-finals last week left him an agonising 50 ranking points behind Ben Shelton for fifth spot, but the process was still a success.
It followed him reaching the ’s-Hertogenbosch final, where he was runner-up to Pole Kamil Majchrzak – his likely third-round opponent at Wimbledon – so he is more pleased than last year, when he lost his sole grasscourt match before travelling to SW19.
Shelton and de Minaur are projected to face off in the quarter-finals, so victory in that potential contest would deliver the progress that the Australian so desperately craves.
“It was there for the taking, and it kind of slipped away,” de Minaur said.
“But [that goal] got me on track, and trending in the right direction. I don’t mean to go and obsess again about things, but the way my career has gone, it’s always been about breaking new ground.
“It’s getting harder to do that, and that’s a privilege in itself, but breaking new ground at grand slams, in terms of results or on the ranking side of things, normally goes hand in hand. That’s what’s going to give me the satisfaction I’m searching for.
“You work so hard to achieve certain things, and if you don’t keep breaking new ground; it feels like you’re not improving, so it’s pretty unforgiving, in that sense – but finding that balance is important.”
That juggling act is something his fiancee, British player Katie Boulter, has helped him with across the years.
They share a home not far from the All England club, where Boulter is a member. The loved-up couple are often on the hallowed grounds practising – or sometimes just eating dinner – before the professional tennis circus comes to town.
De Minaur knows the customs well enough to explain how if he wants a traditional Sunday roast, he must turn up in a suit, whereas the clubhouse cafe, which overlooks the front row of grass courts, is more low-key.
Boulter continues to do the lion’s share of the work for their upcoming nuptials, but de Minaur insists he is chipping in.
“She’s taking on board a lot, and I’m taking on probably just the scraps, but I’m trying to be helpful,” he said.
“More than anything, we’re both very excited for Wimbledon. Hopefully, we can both go deep, have good runs, have a good couple of weeks here, and then fully be able to let go and switch off for the wedding.”
Watch Wimbledon from 7.30pm Monday (AEST) on the Nine Network and Stan Sport.
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
From our partners
About the Author
