Alex de Minaur

Alex de Minaur
de Minaur at the 2018 Citi Open
Country (sports)  Australia
Residence Alicante, Spain
Born (1999-02-17) 17 February 1999[1]
Sydney, Australia
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 12 in)
Plays Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Prize money US$668,091
Singles
Career record 14–17
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 33 (8 October 2018)
Current ranking No. 33 (8 October 2018)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open 2R (2017)
French Open 1R (2017, 2018)
Wimbledon 3R (2018)
US Open 3R (2018)
Doubles
Career record 0–1
Career titles 0
Highest ranking No. 852 (31 October 2016)
Current ranking No. 1124 (19 March 2018)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open 1R (2017)
Wimbledon 1R (2018)
Last updated on: 19 March 2018.

Alex de Minaur[1] (/də mɪˈnɔːr/ də mih-NOR;[2] Spanish: Álex de Miñaur,[3] pronounced [ˈaleɡz ðe miˈɲauɾ];[lower-alpha 1] born 17 February 1999) is an Australian tennis player. He has a career-high ATP singles ranking of 33 achieved in October 2018. He is currently the second youngest player in the ATP top 100[4] and the highest ranked Australian male player.[5]

Personal life

De Minaur was born in Sydney to a Spanish mother and a Uruguayan father. De Minaur has three younger siblings (Dani, Cristina and Sara).[6] He spent the first five years of his life in Australia before locating to Alicante, Spain. De Minaur returned to Australia in 2012. His parents returned to Spain in 2016. De Minaur spends his time between Sydney and Alicante. De Minaur has stated 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."[7]

De Minaur can speak English, Spanish and French.[8]

Junior tennis career

De Minaur reached a career-high ranking of 2 on the juniors circuit, and won the 2016 Australian Open boys' doubles championships alongside Blake Ellis.

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles: 1 (1 runner-up)

Result Year Tournament Surface Opponent Score
Loss 2016 Wimbledon Grass Canada Denis Shapovalov 6–4, 1–6, 3–6

Doubles: 1 (1 title)

Result Year Tournament Surface Partner Opponent Score
Win 2016 Australian Open Hard Australia Blake Ellis Slovakia Lukáš Klein
Czech Republic Patrik Rikl
3–6, 7–5, [12–10]

Professional career

2015–16

de Minaur competing at the 2015 US Junior Open

De Minaur made his professional debut in July 2015 at the Spain F22, reaching the quarterfinals. De Minaur was given a wildcard into the qualifying rounds of the 2016 Australian Open, but lost in round one. De Minaur spent the majority of the 2016 season playing in the ITF circuit in Spain, reaching two finals. In October, De Minaur made his first ATP Challenger Tour final in Eckental, Germany after qualifying.

2017: Grand Slam debut

De Minaur commenced the year at the Brisbane International, where he defeated Mikhail Kukushkin and Frances Tiafoe in qualifying to reach his first ATP 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 number 46 Benoît Paire to claim his first tour level win. In the second round, he retired after the first set against Andrey Kuznetsov. 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.[9] He lost to Sam Querrey in round 2. In February, De Minaur reached round 2 of the Launceston Challenger, defeating the number 1 seed Go Soeda in round 1. In March, De Minaur lost in the final round of qualifying for Indian Wells, before returning to the Challenger circuit.

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.[10] In June, De Minaur lost in the first round of Nottingham and Ilkley Challengers and the second round of Wimbledon qualifying. In July, De Minaur won the Portugal F11 Futures and reached the final of the Castilla y León Challenger. De Minaur was awarded a wildcard into the US Open, losing in round one to Dominic Thiem. From September to November, De Minaur played a number of Challenger events in Europe, reaching two quarterfinals.

In December, De Minaur won the Australian Open play off for a main draw wildcard into the 2018 Australian Open.[11] He finished the year with a singles ranking of 208.

2018: Breakthrough

De Minaur commenced the year at the Brisbane International after receiving a wildcard into the main draw.[12] He defeated American Steve Johnson in straight sets, before scoring the biggest win of his career to date by beating world number 24 Milos Raonic in straight sets.[13] He then defeated qualifier Michael Mmoh in the quarterfinals before losing to Ryan Harrison in the semifinals.[14] 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.[15] 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, a week after he reached his first in Brisbane. De Minaur became the youngest player to play in two consecutive ATP semifinals since Rafael Nadal in 2005.[16] He beat Frenchman Benoît Paire in the semifinals to meet Daniil Medvedev in the final.[17] De Minaur lost the final in three sets, having won the opener.[18] At the 2018 Australian Open, De Minaur lost in the first round to Tomáš Berdych, but took a set off of the 19th seed. In March, after having previously made his Davis Cup debut, De Minaur lost in second round of Indian Wells to eventual champion Juan Martín del Potro before qualifying for and losing in the first round of Miami Masters. In April, De Minaur reached his third Challenger final at the 2018 JC Ferrero Challenger Open.

He was awarded a wildcard to the 2018 French Open[19] but lost in the first round to British 16th seed Kyle Edmund.[20] 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.[21] 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 top seed Rafael Nadal.

In Washington, he defeated Vasek Pospisil, 11th seed Steve Johnson, 8th 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. This run saw him enter the top 50 for the first time.

In August, de Minaur played the Winston-Salem Open where he was the 15th seed. He lost in the first round to Daniil Medvedev. In the US Open, De Minaur defeated Taro Daniel and Frances Tiafoe before losing to 7th seed Marin Čilić in 5 set. In October, de Minaur replaced Nick Kyrgios as Australia's highest ranked male.[5]

National representation

Davis Cup

De Minaur 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.[22]

ATP career finals

Singles: 2 (2 runner-ups)

Legend
Grand Slam tournaments (0–0)
ATP World Tour Finals (0–0)
ATP World Tour Masters 1000 (0–0)
ATP World Tour 500 Series (0–1)
ATP World Tour 250 Series (0–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (0–2)
Clay (0–0)
Grass (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Jan 2018 Sydney International, Australia 250 Series Hard Russia Daniil Medvedev 6–1, 4–6, 5–7
Loss 0–2 Aug 2018 Washington Open, United States 500 Series Hard Germany Alexander Zverev 2–6, 4–6

ATP Challenger and ITF Futures finals

Singles: 8 (2–6)

Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (1–4)
ITF Futures Tour (1–2)
Finals by surface
Hard (1–1)
Clay (0–3)
Grass (1–1)
Carpet (0–1)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Opponent Score
Loss 0–1 Feb 2016 Spain F4, Murcia Futures Clay Canada Steven Diez 3–6, 4–6
Loss 0–2 May 2016 Spain F14, Vic Futures Clay Spain Jaume Munar 6–7(5–7), 5–7
Loss 0–3 Nov 2016 Eckental, Germany Challenger Carpet (i) Belgium Steve Darcis 4–6, 2–6
Win 1–3 Jul 2017 Portugal F11, Póvoa de Varzim Futures Hard Portugal Frederico Ferreira Silva 6–1, 2–6, 6–2
Loss 1–4 Aug 2017 Segovia, Spain Challenger Hard Spain Jaume Munar 3–6, 4–6
Loss 1–5 Apr 2018 Alicante, Spain Challenger Clay Spain Pablo Andújar 6–7(5–7), 1–6
Loss 1–6 Jun 2018 Surbiton, United Kingdom Challenger Grass France Jérémy Chardy 4–6, 6–4, 2–6
Win 2–6 Jun 2018 Nottingham, United Kingdom Challenger Grass United Kingdom Dan Evans 7–6(7–4), 7–5

Doubles: 3 (2–1)

Legend
ATP Challenger Tour (0–0)
ITF Futures Tour (2–1)
Finals by surface
Hard (2–0)
Clay (0–1)
Grass (0–0)
Result W–L    Date    Tournament Tier Surface Partner Opponents Score
Win 1–0 Apr 2016 Spain F8, Madrid Futures Hard Spain Carlos Boluda-Purkiss Spain Carlos Gómez-Herrera
Japan Akira Santillan
6–4, 6–4
Loss 1–1 May 2016 Spain F12, Saint-Dizier Futures Clay Spain Carlos Boluda-Purkiss India Ramkumar Ramanathan
Spain David Vega Hernández
3–6, 1–6
Win 2–1 Jul 2017 Portugal F11, Póvoa de Varzim Futures Hard Spain Roberto Ortega Olmedo Australia Edward Bourchier
Australia Daniel Nolan
6–2, 6–1

Performance timeline

Key
W  F  SF QF #R RR Q# A P Z# PO G F-S SF-B NMS NH

(W) Won; (F) finalist; (SF) semifinalist; (QF) quarterfinalist; (#R) rounds 4, 3, 2, 1; (RR) round-robin stage; (Q#) qualification round; (A) absent; (Z#) Davis/Fed Cup Zonal Group (with number indication) or (PO) play-off; (G) gold, (F-S) silver or (SF-B) bronze Olympic medal; a (NMS) downgraded Masters Series/1000 tournament; (NH) not held. SR=strike rate (events won/competed)

To avoid confusion and double counting, these charts are updated at the conclusion of a tournament or when the player's participation has ended.

Current through the 2018 US Open

Singles

Tournament201620172018SRW–L
Grand Slam tournaments
Australian Open Q1 2R 1R 0 / 2 1–2
French Open A 1R 1R 0 / 2 0–2
Wimbledon A Q2 3R 0 / 1 2–1
US Open A 1R 3R 0 / 2 2–2
Win–Loss 0–0 1–3 4–4 0 / 7 5–7
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
Indian Wells Masters A Q2 2R 0 / 1 1–1
Miami Open A A 1R 0 / 1 0–1
Monte-Carlo Masters A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Madrid Open A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Italian Open A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Canadian Open A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Cincinnati Masters A A A 0 / 0 0–0
Shanghai Masters A A 0 / 0 0–0
Paris Masters A A 0 / 0 0–0
Win–Loss 0–0 0–0 1–2 0 / 2 1–2
National representation
Summer Olympics A Not Held 0 / 0 0–0
Davis Cup A A 1R 0 / 1 0–1
Career statistics
201620172018Career
Tournaments 0 5 14 19
Titles 0 0 0 0
Finals 0 0 2 2
Overall Win–Loss 0–0 2–5 18–15 20–20
Win % 29% 55% 50%
Year-end ranking 349 208

Notes

  1. In isolation, Álex and de are pronounced [ˈaleks] and [de] respectively.

References

  1. 1 2 "Alex De Minaur – Overview – ATP World Tour – Tennis".
  2. RacquetComedy (18 May 2016). "FULL INTERVIEW: Alex De Minaur". YouTube.com. Retrieved 2018-01-03.
  3. "Wimbledon 2018: Álex de Miñaur, el talento perdido por España | Marca.com". Marca (in Spanish). 2018-07-07. Retrieved 2018-10-04.
  4. "Rankings – Singles – ATP World Tour – Tennis".
  5. 1 2 "DE MINUAR LEADS AUSSIE CHARGE IN SHANGHAI". Tennis Australia. 6 October 2018. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  6. "MY FAMILY". ALEX DE MIÑAUR. Retrieved 2018-01-13.
  7. "Aussie prodigy Alex De Miñaur taking advice from Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic". Sydney Morning Herald. 8 January 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  8. "Alex de Minaur: Five Facts About Australia's Latest Tennis Star". UBI tennis. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  9. "Alex De Minaur wins through to second round on Australian Open debut". The Guardian. The Guardian. 16 January 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  10. "DE MINAUR AWARDED WILDCARD FOR ROLAND GARROS". Tennis Australia. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  11. "DESTANEE AIAVA AND ALEX DE MIÑAUR WIN AUSTRALIAN OPEN WILDCARDS". Tennis Australia. 17 December 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
  12. Australian Associated Press (29 December 2017). "In-form De Miñaur dealt Brisbane wildcard". Wide World of Sports. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  13. Johnson, Paul (3 January 2018). "Alex de Minaur blasts Milos Raonic out of Brisbane International". The Australian. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  14. Baynes, Valkerie (6 January 2018). "Alex De Minaur falls agonisingly short against Ryan Harrison in Brisbane International semi-final". The Courier-Mail. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  15. "Nick Kyrgios through to Brisbane International final, Australian teen Alex De Minaur falls just short". ABC. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  16. Buckley, James (13 January 2018). "Alex de Minaur the youngest player to make Sydney International final since Lleyton Hewitt". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media Media. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  17. Pandaram, Jamie (12 January 2018). "Alex De Minaur v Benoit Paire: Aussie 'Demon' into Sydney International final". The Daily Telegraph. News Corp Australia. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  18. Kemp, Emma (13 January 2018). "Australian Alex de Minaur loses Sydney International final but wins fans after gutsy display". The West Australian. Seven West Media. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  19. "#RG18: Wild-cards announced ! - Roland-Garros - the 2018 French Open official site".
  20. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/may/29/kyle-edmund-french-open-comfortable-victory-alex-de-miñaur
  21. "Dan Evans beaten by Alex de Minaur in Nature Valley Open in Nottingham". BBC Sport. 2018-06-17. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  22. Davis Cup: Alex De Minaur falls just short in thrilling debut
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