By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | October 1, 2019
2019 has given tennis fans so many breakout stars to get excited about and any fan, if pressed, could reel off ten to 20 names of players that have announced themselves as bona fide talents over the last nine months (try it, it’s fun). There are even a handful of players that, like Bianca Andreescu and Felix Auger-Aliassime, came from outside of the Top 100 to become major players on the sports’ biggest stages.
There are also success stories like Daniil Medvedev, Matteo Berrettini and Guido Pella on the ATP side, and Sofia Kenin, Amanda Anisimova and Iga Swiatek on the WTA side. The list goes on and on…
Make sure you put Australia’s Alex de Minaur up there as well.
At the ripe age of 20, all “the DeMon” has done is become one of six ATP players with three or more titles in 2019 while overcome a momentum-crushing groin injury to find himself on the cusp of the Top 20. When we consider that the Sydney native ended 2018—his true breakout season—at 31 in the world, the Top 20 ranking doesn’t come as a giant surprise, but the nuanced tennis fan knows how difficult it can be to back up a breakout season. There are pressure and expectations to deal with, not to mention the wear-and-tear of suddenly playing a ton more tour-level matches than had been previously expected.
De Minaur entered 2018 with seven ATP-level matches to his name (and a ranking of 208) and since then has proceeded to play 94 matches at the highest level of the sport.
To his credit he’s won more than a few of them and he’s now put himself in position to make a run at the Top 20 and—who knows?—perhaps the Top 10 or even higher next season.
Far from being an overnight sensation, De Minaur has had to do it the hard way. With a jaw-dropping set of wheels, with tenacity, with fortitude—and that’s not even the half of it.
He’s also had to do it with his mind.
The Aussie has been working with a sports psychologist for three years and this critical relationship has helped him deal with the ebbs, flows, ups and downs of life on the circuit.
“I feel like the head, the mind is one of the most important things out there,” De Minaur said last week in Zhuhai, where he won the title. “I train my mind as much as I do on the tennis court or as much as I do fitness. I've got a psychologist which I talk to every day and it's been a big help.”
De Minaur sings the praises of his mystery man in Spain, but he keeps it pretty close to the vest when it comes to sharing his name with the general public. Apparently only those on the inside of the Aussie’s circle get that information.
“He's Spanish, and he's a person from Alicante [Spain] and has helped me for a very long time,” De Minaur said last year at Wimbledon. “But I feel like, you know, there's some things that can be kept to myself and a bit more private. Nowadays there is not a lot you can keep private from the media, so there is a couple of things I like to keep to myself.”
The name isn’t as important as the character of the work. And the proof is in the pudding when it comes to De Minaur. This is a player that is leaving no stone unturned in his quest for his best tennis-playing self.
Not only is De Minaur poised and composed on the court, he also showed a great maturity in coming back from a difficult rut this spring. After picking up a groin injury he needed a few months off. He struggled to find his form and didn’t win back-to-back matches for five months. At such a young age and in such a nascent stage of his career, it could have been a real blow to De Minaur’s career.
“And, honestly, tennis is such a tough sport as it is, it's only you out there on court, so you've got to deal with a lot of different pressures and expectations and when things aren't going well,” De Minaur says. “So to have someone like that to be on my team and be able to clear my mind and make me stronger mentally, I think it's been the biggest change for me. That's the way I've been progressing, thanks to all the work I've done with him.”
But the Aussie showed patience with himself and gradually worked his way into form. When he was ready to hit full stride he slammed the accelerator and won the title in Atlanta in stunning fashion, becoming one of just three players to win a title without ever facing a break point since 1991. The other two are Tommy Haas and John Isner—quite an accomplishment for a 6’ string bean that is known more for his defense than his serving prowess.
That title run proved to be a springboard for De Minaur. He reached the second week at a major for the first time at the US Open after defeating Kei Nishikori for his first career Top 10 win in the third round.
“This is where I feel like my game's at,” De Minaur said after the win. “I want to be pushing these guys, I want to be pushing second weeks of Grand Slams and putting myself out there.”
De Minaur credited the lack of lapses of concentration for his success. Like so many of his performances in 2019, he was very even on court. Walkabouts rarely happen on De Minaur’s side of the court.
“The most important thing is to keep fighting,” De Minaur says. “That's what I got to try and do every time I step out on court, I need to make sure that I'm positive and I fight until the end. And then sometimes I'll have good days, sometimes I'll have bad days, but if I keep fighting until the end I'll be able to win a lot of matches, even if they're not my best days.”