Australian tennis star Alex de Minaur, ranked No. 7 in the world, just dropped a big bombshell. He is concluding his 11-year-long partnership with Asics and starting a new chapter in the professional landscape. In his preparations for the new season, de Minaur will begin with a lead up to the Australian Open. He’ll begin his first competition at the United Cup on Saturday. He’s retained nearly all of his support staff in spite of the departure from his longtime backer. At the same time, he’s added a new fitness coach to the mix to help hone his performance level.
De Minaur is focused on using all of his experience as a six-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist. He aims to be the first as he looks to take the nation into the semifinals of a major competition for the first time ever. His resolve is fierce as he trains in pursuit of a victorious homecoming next month. New elements to his training routine are stoking his competitive fire.
The 24-year-old Australian Olympian hasn’t shied away from his struggles with a few extra pounds. Now, he’s working to grow “bigger and stronger” to take his game to the next level. He expressed his commitment to evolving as a player, stating, “I’m ultimately trying to get bigger and stronger and just keep on improving.”
De Minaur’s upcoming match against world No.12 Casper Ruud will mark an important early test, as Australia takes on Norway in the United Cup. He has been through the fire, up against elites in the sport. Up until now, he had a hard time beating Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner, being 0-5 and 0-13 in terms of h2h against those pair. Reflecting on these tough matches, de Minaur mentioned, “I’ve played some very close matches over the years with both of them and you feel like you’re getting closer and closer.”
In light of these challenges, de Minaur emphasized the need for strategic growth, noting, “You’ve got to work on your game, find new weapons. For me, it’s finding different ways to hurt these players and trying to be ready to take more risks and be a little bit more of a disruptor.”
As he embarks on this new chapter in his career, de Minaur has set clear goals for himself and his team. He remarked, “There’s a couple of things here and there that we’ve tried to work towards in my team throughout this off-season to try to take the next step, and that’s obviously the next goal.”
With hard work as his cornerstone, he concluded, “There’s no substitute for hard work, so that’s what we’ll be doing.”
