From once appearing to have feet of clay on the red stuff, Alex de Minaur now only thinks of delivering major feats on clay.
The de Minaur who addressed reporters at Roland Garros after his first-round win at the French Open on Monday is a very different customer to the figure who once seemed a mite bogged down by his frailty there.
And as he pondered the prospect of reaching the third round in the Paris slam for the first time in seven attempts, Australia's number one men's player declared himself a much more formidable proposition these days.
"I'm not in the same place I was three or four years ago, where I would come here and kind of just hope for a good draw because I knew it was going to be tough," mused de Minaur after his 6-1, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 victory over Belarusian Ilya Ivashka.
"Now I feel like I can play well and I can take it to anyone who is in front of me."
He reckoned the difference between the old de Minaur, who so often floundered on the surface, and the guy who seems so happy and comfortable in going on the attack on clay could be encapsulated by how he recovered from a mid-match lapse of concentration.
"It can get frustrating (playing on clay) at times. It's important to be as chilled out as you can and kind of move on," he explained, referring to the absent-minded spell when he lost four games in a row with nine unforced errors that let a struggling Ivashka off the hook.
"That's what I think I did. I was a little bit vocal in the second set, the end of the second set. And part of what I think changed the whole match was just me kind of being a little bit more quiet and just focused.
"I haven't played probably my best tennis here. To be honest, I think that's more on clay (as a whole).
"The first couple years of my career, I struggled to find my feet a little bit, but I think that's really changed of late.
"Last year, I really felt like I found myself on this surface, and I was able to play some good, high quality matches, and felt quite comfortable."
His 2022 clay-court campaign, in which he held match points against Carlos Alcaraz in Barcelona before just missing out on a place in his first clay-court final, changed much for de Minaur.
Even though he went out in the Roland Garros first round to Hugo Gaston amid a gladiatorial atmosphere on Court Suzanne Lenglen, with his young French opponent being cheered to the rafters, he always fancied he would come back steeled further in 2023.
Next up for 'Demon' is a tough one against Argentina's rising Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who he hasn't played since they were battling it out as kids "in the Orange Bowl under 12s — something like that".
"He's the definition of a very, very good clay-courter. Very strong guy, tall, got a big serve, big forehand … one of those unseeded dark horses, so I'll be ready for a battle, that's for sure," shrugged de Minaur.
As a bit of dark horse himself — albeit a seeded one — de Minaur says he's ready to relish the fray.
In other Australian results at Roland Garros, Chris O'Connell bowed out in straight sets, losing 6-0, 6-2, 6-4 to Japan's Taro Daniel, while Alexei Popyrin went down in four sets to Russia's Aslan Karatsev 6-3, 6-7 (7/4), 6-1, 6-2.
AAP/ABC
