Alex de Minaur

Alex de Minaur ( ; , ; born 17 February 1999) is an Australian professional tennis player. He achieved a career-high ATP singles ranking of No. 18 on 28 October 2019 and a doubles ranking of No. 58 on 12 October 2020.
Early life and junior career.
De Minaur was born in Sydney, Australia. His father, Anibal, is Uruguayan and his mother, Esther, is a Spaniard. His father owned an Italian restaurant on George Street in Sydney and met Esther when she began working there as a waitress. De Minaur has two brothers and three sisters — Dominic, Daniel, Natalie, Cristina, and Sara.
His name is commonly pronounced , inspiring both his nickname of the Demon and his logo used when signing the camera lens after winning matches.
De Minaur has dual Australian and Spanish citizenship. He spent the first five years of his life in the south Sydney suburb of Carss Park before relocating to Alicante, Spain. He completed most of his early education in Spain before returning to Australia at age 13. As of 2015, de Minaur was living in Spain. De Minaur has stated that he has always felt a strong bond with Australia even though he has lived most of his life in Spain. In 2017, he told the "Sydney Morning Herald" "I used to represent Spain but I always felt I was Australian. As soon as we moved back here again that was the first thing I wanted to do — play for Australia." 
De Minaur is fluent in English and Spanish and also speaks some French. He is currently dating British tennis player Katie Boulter. 
De Minaur began playing tennis at age three at the Sydney Private Tennis Academy at the Parkside Tennis Courts in Kogarah Bay. He was coached by Kerry Dock and then by Cindy Dock, a former Australian player. He has been coached by Adolfo Gutierrez since he was nine years old and living in Alicante. De Minaur reached a career-high ranking of 2 on the juniors circuit and won the 2016 Australian Open boys' doubles title alongside Blake Ellis.
Professional career.
2015–2017: Early Futures & Challenger success, turning pro.
De Minaur plays tennis under the flag of Australia. He made his professional debut in July 2015 at the Spain F22, reaching the quarterfinals. He was given a wildcard into the qualifying rounds of the 2016 Australian Open, but lost in round one. De Minaur then spent the majority of the 2016 season playing on the ITF circuit in Spain, reaching two finals. He made his first ATP Challenger Tour final in Eckental, Germany after qualifying.
De Minaur commenced the year at the Brisbane International, where he defeated Mikhail Kukushkin and Frances Tiafoe in qualifying to reach his first ATP Tour main draw. He lost in the first round to Mischa Zverev. The following week, he received a wildcard into the Apia International Sydney where he defeated world No. 46, Benoît Paire to claim his first Tour-level win. De Minaur made his Grand Slam debut at the 2017 Australian Open after receiving a wildcard. He faced Gerald Melzer in the first round and won in five sets after saving a match point in the fourth set. He lost to Sam Querrey in round two. 
In May, de Minaur made his French Open debut after being awarded a wildcard. He lost the opening round to Robin Haase, in straight sets. In June, de Minaur lost in the first round of Nottingham and Ilkley Challengers and the second round of Wimbledon qualifying. De Minaur was awarded a wildcard into the 2017 US Open, losing in round one to Dominic Thiem. 
In December, de Minaur won the Australian Open play off for a main draw wildcard into the 2018 Australian Open. He finished the year with a singles ranking of 208.
2018: Breakthrough, Challenger title, two ATP finals, first NextGen ATP Finals final.
De Minaur commenced the year at the Brisbane International after receiving a wildcard into the main draw. He defeated American Steve Johnson in straight sets before scoring a career high win against world number 24 Milos Raonic in straight sets. He then defeated qualifier Michael Mmoh in the quarterfinals before losing to Ryan Harrison in the semifinals. De Minaur is the lowest ranked player and the youngest to reach the semifinals of the men's draw in the Brisbane International's 10-year history. 
De Minaur received a special exempt spot in the main draw of the Sydney event, where he consecutively eliminated Fernando Verdasco, Damir Džumhur and Feliciano López to reach his second ATP Tour semifinal; he reached this milestone just one week after having played in his first tour semifinal in Brisbane. De Minaur became the youngest player to play in two consecutive ATP semifinals since Rafael Nadal in 2005. He beat Frenchman Benoît Paire in the semifinals to meet Daniil Medvedev in the final. De Minaur lost the final in three sets, having won the opener. At the 2018 Australian Open, de Minaur lost in the first round to Tomáš Berdych, but took a set off of the 19th seed.
He was awarded a wildcard into the 2018 French Open, but lost in the first round to British 16th seed Kyle Edmund. Following this, he made two consecutive Challenger finals, losing to Jérémy Chardy at Surbiton, before defeating Dan Evans in straight sets to claim his first Challenger-level title at the Nottingham Open. He saw his best results to date at a major at Wimbledon, defeating 29th seed and French Open semifinalist Marco Cecchinato and Pierre-Hugues Herbert to reach the third round, where he fell to world number one and second seed Rafael Nadal.
In Washington, de Minaur defeated Vasek Pospisil, 11th seed Steve Johnson, eighth seed and Australian Open semifinalist Chung Hyeon and received a walkover over Andy Murray to reach the semifinals where he faced Andrey Rublev. De Minaur saved four match points while down 2–6 in the second set tiebreak, winning six points in a row to win it 8–6. He then won the final set 6–4 to reach his first ATP 500 final against Alexander Zverev, in which he went down 4–6, 2–6. De Minaur entered the top 50 in the rankings for the first time.
At the US Open, de Minaur defeated Taro Daniel and Frances Tiafoe before losing to seventh seed Marin Čilić in five sets. Later in the year, he replaced Nick Kyrgios as Australia's highest ranked male singles player.
De Minaur qualified as the second seed into the 2018 Next Generation ATP Finals. He beat Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, Liam Caruana in group stage. He then defeated Jaume Munar in the semifinals, before losing to top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
2019: Three ATP titles, second NextGen ATP Finals final.
De Minaur began his year with a quarterfinal run in Brisbane, resulting in him being seeded for a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career, at the upcoming Australian Open. At the 2019 Sydney International, straight-set victories over Dušan Lajović, Reilly Opelka, Jordan Thompson and Gilles Simon saw him return to the finals. He defeated Andreas Seppi 7–5, 7–6(7–5) to claim his first career title. At the Australian Open, he lost in the third round to Rafael Nadal. De Minaur reached a then career-high ranking of 24 in March 2019.
Following the Australian Open, de Minaur suffered a groin injury, sidelining him for two months. At Wimbledon, De Minaur won his opening round before losing to Steve Johnson in the second round in five sets. De Minaur made his fourth ATP Final in Atlanta, where he defeated Taylor Fritz to clinch the trophy. He did not face a single break point in the four matches he played during the tournament, winning 116 of 123 first serve points.
At the US Open, de Minaur defeated Kei Nishikori in third round, earning his first career win over a top 10-ranked opponent. He reached the fourth round for the first time in the event, however, lost to Grigor Dimitrov 7–5, 6–3, 6–4.
In September, de Minaur claimed his 3rd ATP title beating Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final of the Zhuhai Championships.
At the Swiss Indoors, de Minaur reached the final of an ATP 500 event for the second time in his career, losing to Roger Federer. As a result, de Minaur reached a career-high ranking of 18.
De Minaur qualified as the first seed into the 2019 Next Generation ATP Finals. He beat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Miomir Kecmanović, Casper Ruud in group stage. He then beat Frances Tiafoe in the semis before losing to Italian wildcard Jannik Sinner.
2020: US Open quarterfinal.
De Minaur started new season by playing for Australia at the first edition of the ATP Cup. He won his first two matches beating Alexander Zverev of Germany and Denis Shapovalov of Canada. Facing Great Britain in the quarterfinals, de Minaur lost his singles match to Dan Evans. However, in doubles, he and Nick Kyrgios won a three set thriller over Jamie Murray/Joe Salisbury to send Australia to the semifinals. In the semifinals, de Minaur was defeated by Rafael Nadal. De Minaur withdrew from the first edition of the Adelaide International due to an abdominal strain. He also withdrew from the Australian Open due to the same injury.
De Minaur returned from injury in February and played at the Mexican Open. He lost in the first round to Miomir Kecmanović. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the ATP tour tournaments were suspended.
De Minaur played his first tournament since February in August at the Cincinnati Masters, where he was defeated in the first round by Jan-Lennard Struff. However, in doubles, he and Pablo Carreño Busta won the title beating Jamie Murray/Neal Skupski in the final. Seeded 21st at the US Open, de Minaur reached his first Grand Slam quarterfinals where he lost to second seed and eventual champion Dominic Thiem.
After the US Open, de Minaur traveled to Rome to compete at the Italian Open. He was defeated in the first round by German qualifier Dominik Koepfer. Seeded 25th at the French Open, de Minaur lost in the first round to qualifier and 2018 semifinalist Marco Cecchinato.
Seeded eighth at the European Open, de Minaur reached the final where he was defeated by Ugo Humbert. Seeded 16th at the Paris Masters, de Minaur lost in the third round to third seed and eventual champion Daniil Medvedev. De Minaur played his final tournament of the season at the Sofia Open. Seeded third, he was defeated in the quarterfinals by eventual champion Jannik Sinner.
De Minaur ended the year ranked 23.
2021: Fourth ATP title.
De Minaur started his 2021 season at the Antalya Open. Seeded fourth, he won his fourth ATP singles title when his opponent, eighth seed Alexander Bublik, retired from the final due to a right ankle injury. Playing for Australia at the 2021 ATP Cup, de Minaur lost both of his matches to Roberto Bautista Agut, and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Seeded 21st at the Australian Open, de Minaur reached the third round where he was defeated by 16th seed Fabio Fognini.
In March, de Minaur competed at the Rotterdam Open. Here, he lost in the second round to Kei Nishikori. Seeded ninth at the Dubai Championships, de Minaur fell in the second round to Jérémy Chardy. Seeded 15th at the Miami Open, de Minaur suffered a second-round upset at the hands of Daniel Elahi Galán.
Moving on to the clay-court season, de Minaur competed in Monaco at the Monte-Carlo Masters. He was defeated in the first round by Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. Seeded 14th at the Barcelona Open, de Minaur made it to the third round where he lost to second seed and eventual finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas. Playing at the Madrid Open, de Minaur was defeated in the third round by third seed Dominic Thiem.
Playing style.
De Minaur is famous for his incredible speed and agility on court, which have earned him the jocular title "Speed Demon" on the tour. He is known for his ability to retrieve seemingly impossible balls and hit winners from defensive positions or force opponents into making mistakes. His footwork and court coverage are considered some of the best on tour, though some have questioned the physical toll it could take on his body in the long-term. Despite this, his fighting spirit, "never say die" attitude and intensity on the court have earned him a huge fan base for a young player.
His baseline game suits that of a counterpuncher, often retrieving balls and slowly constructing points. However, he is also known to inject sudden pace into rallies to surprise opponents, and often opts for a one-two combination on his serve, using the serve and a powerful groundstroke to endpoints quickly. His forehand is significantly better than his backhand on the offensive, and he often uses it to construct points or hit winners when attacking. 
De Minaur possesses a strong first serve, but his second serve is considerably weaker and usually an attacking point for opponents. His volleys were initially a weakness too, but have improved since 2019, moving towards a more transitional offensive game. 
Critics point out that despite his defensive capabilities, de Minaur does not possess any real weapons to hurt top opponents. Some have argued his defensive game is unsustainable physically in the long-term and is not sufficient to challenge the best players in the world as he tends to play himself out of aggressive positions. Instead, he should focus on developing his groundstrokes towards more consistent aggression to endpoints quickly.
National representation.
ATP Cup.
De Minaur made his ATP Cup debut for Australia in January 2020, at the age of 20. He scored a victory against then world number 7 Alexander Zverev which helped Australia claimed a 3-0 victory over Germany.
Davis Cup.
He made his Davis Cup debut for Australia in February 2018, at the age of 18. He faced then world number 5 Alexander Zverev from Germany in the opening rubber and fell just short of a spectacular upset, losing in a fifth-set tiebreaker after leading 3–0, (40–Ad.) in the decider.
Olympics.
De Minaur has expressed his desire to represent Australia at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Performance timeline.
Singles.
"Current through the 2021 Rome."
Record against other players.
Record against top 10 players.
De Minaur's match record against those who have been ranked in the top 10, with those in boldface having been ranked No. 1.