As Tennis Winds Change, De Minaur Says Opportunity Is Knocking

As one of the fiercest competitors on the ATP Tour, inconsistency isn’t something you typically associate with Alex de Minaur.

But as the ATP Tour season moves into the third quarter and he takes stock of his 2023 performance, the Australian speedster is focussed on weeding out some of the disappointing early-round losses, particularly on the big stages, which have prevented him turning a good season into a great one.

At World No. 17, he’s just two spots away from his career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking. His 22-14 record on the year is solid. He claimed the biggest title of his career in February at the ATP 500 in Acapulco and was competitive in a 6-4, 6-4 defeat to Carlos Alcaraz in the Queen’s final shortly before the Spaniard went on to win Wimbledon.

But after a run to the Australian Open fourth round (l. to Djokovic) in January, De Minaur has endured a 4-7 record at the Grand Slam and ATP Masters 1000 levels.

“It’s been quite an up and down season. I’ve had some very good results and some not so good ones, which I would like to erase,” De Minaur told ATPTour.com in Atlanta. “But still right now I stand at a pretty good spot with the second part of the year to go and I’m looking forward to hopefully being able to make good use of where I am and have some good results and keep pushing higher and higher and hopefully get to a new career high.”

Consistency has not been a problem for the Australian at the Atlanta Open, an event he has won twice in three appearances, and where he is set to defend his title this week. De Minaur this week is playing his first tournament since a second-round exit at Wimbledon, returning to Atlanta where he is on an eight-match winning streak after his titles in 2022 and 2019.

“I just feel good here,” De Minaur said. “It’s a very comfortable tournament that’s very easy for the players. The hotel is basically on site and you have some great food close by. It definitely makes it easier to play good tennis when you’re comfortable.”

Having spent the first part of his career squeezed out of big titles contention by the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, De Minaur looks upon the next few years as potentially the most productive period of his career, despite the emergence of the new triple threat of Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Holger Rune, who may embark on a shared period of domination of their own.

“We’re getting to a stage in tennis where everything is opening up a lot, so that’s quite exciting. Looking at myself personally, I would like to be amongst the people breaking through to the next level,” De Minaur said.

“So that’s the plan for me. Just keep working on myself. Keep trying to push through and be the guy that ends up going deep in in the big tournaments in the big weeks.”

His two Atlanta titles are evidence that the Sydney native has not struggled making the transition from the grass season to the US hard courts. And he doesn’t have any concerns about the switch this time around.

“It’s probably not the hardest change in the world. I think there’s other changes throughout the year that take a little bit more adjusting to. After Wimbledon, I like to take a little bit of time off, kind of reset a little bit, both physically and mentally. And then normally get myself a nice little week of prep, good prep, good training, and then I’m ready to go.

“There’s nothing specific I do. Ultimately, it comes very natural to me playing on the hard courts. Probably the biggest thing is just movement, you start trusting yourself again, and start kind of committing to movement for work and kind of sliding around the court.

“Coming back as the defending champion, if anything, it just creates a target on your back. I’ve been fortunate enough to do it a couple times. So now, I’m kind of used to it and it’s just another week. Every time you start a new tournament, you start from scratch, and you know you gotta let the best man win. So hopefully I can put myself in contention this week, and we’ll see what happens.”

De Minaur’s opening match will be against fellow Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis, who enjoyed a comeback three-set win over Gael Monfils Monday night.