It was at Wimbledon last summer that Alex de Minaur got his first real taste of stardom, when he found himself centre of attention alongside his girlfriend, the British No 1, Katie Boulter. Having gone under the radar for much of his career, the 24-year-old was understandably bemused as the pair’s every move was captured by the snap of a camera.
“It was definitely odd,” De Minaur says on the eve of the Australian Open, where he is his country’s leading hope of success in an event that last had an Australian man win the title in 1976. “It was my first time ever being followed by paparazzi. That’s something I wasn’t expecting, to the point that they found out where we were staying, and they were waiting for us the following morning. That, for me, was incredible to experience, it is something I never thought was possible. And that’s all because of Katie.”
De Minaur may soon have to get used to that kind of fame, and not just because of his girlfriend. This month, De Minaur cracked the world’s top 10 for the first time when he beat the world No 1, Novak Djokovic, and Germany’s Alexander Zverev. Since then, he’s defeated the Wimbledon champion Carlos Alcaraz in an exhibition and hopes are rising that Melbourne Park could be about to witness something special.
“Look, there are a lot of eyeballs, there is a lot of attention,” he says. “But I’m trying to do the same things as I normally would. And for me, nothing really changes. And I don’t really want it to change. We’re very low-key when it comes to these things. I’ve always wanted to let my tennis do the talking. I don’t need anything else. If people are talking about me, it’s because I’m doing something, so I’d like to keep it to that.”
There’s no question that people are talking about him. If Mark Edmondson’s victory in 1976 was a huge shock – ranked No 212, he was working as a hospital cleaner to fund his tennis – it’s almost as big a surprise that no other Australian man has won the title since, despite the best efforts of Pat Cash (a finalist in 1987 and 1988) and former world No 1s Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt, the latter a runner-up in 2005. While Djokovic and Alcaraz are favourites, De Minaur is a live outsider.
Blisteringly fast and as gutsy as Hewitt, his mentor, De Minaur has added power and belief to his game. Though talk of the title may be optimistic, not least since he has made only one grand slam quarter-final so far and he plays the big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic in the first round, he’s in the form of his life and, crucially, the nation is fully behind him.
“I’m playing a lot more aggressive, bringing a lot of variety,” he says. “Maybe in the past, I relied a little bit too much on my speed. That’s won me a lot of matches, but I think to make the next step and beat the top guys I needed to implement a bit more firepower, a bit more belief, and more importantly, in the big moments, have a positive mindset and go out there and take it. I was never going to beat the top guys by being passive.”
In the past 12 months, De Minaur has grown as a player but also as a person, becoming a genuine leader of Australian tennis, a role he seems more and more comfortable with by the day. While the daily travails of Nick Kyrgios may grab headlines, De Minaur is an inspiration to his compatriots in the game, all of whom look up to him for his work ethic and the person he is.
“It’s probably one of the biggest compliments I could ever get,” he says. “I’ve been in the position for a while, but I’ve never been one to be very vocal about it, I have always believed my actions speak louder than words and lead by example. And I think I’ve gained a lot of my peers’ respect because of that. That’s a huge compliment. I love being a part of it. I love seeing all Aussies play well and put in the results that I know they can.
“It is very important for me to show that I can be the same person that I was 10 years ago and now. I can still win tennis matches, I can still be a good friend, I can still be a good family man.
“And I can do all the same things that I would if I wasn’t playing tennis. I’d rather be known for being a good human being than a good tennis player.”
Go deep at Melbourne Park this year and his reputation will be enhanced even more.
