"I've always said that the first week in a Grand Slam is meant to survive it, now I have to present my best tennis," Alex De Minor summed up the victory over Flavio Covoli, which gave him the ticket to the round of 16 of the Australian Championship - for the third time in a row.
Novak Djokovic's tribute to LeBron James
AusOpen
After victories over Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alquers at the beginning of the month, his first career entry into the top 10 and reaching the last 16 of the home tournament, once again, the question arises - how will the big month in the career of De Minor, the local hero on the far continent, end?
Quite a few tennis players started the first Grand Slam of the season with a strong tailwind, but probably the strongest of them accompanies De Minor, the biggest hope of tennis powerhouse Australia.
For the benefit of those who missed the dream period of the 24-year-old Australian: it started as mentioned with the United Cup victory over Djokovic, who suffered his first loss on Australian soil since 2019. The second victory over Alexander Zverev earned him entry into the top ten - the first Australian to do so Since the legendary Lleyton Hewitt in 2006.
Hewitt, by the way, coaches the Australian national team and acts as a mentor to De Minor.
De Minor then defeated Alquers in an exhibition match in front of the enthusiastic fans and signed a great preparation for the Grand Slam.
So far, De Minor is also very impressive in the home Grand Slam itself, and in three matches (in the first one he took advantage of Milos Raonic's retirement), he dropped only one set.
His next hurdle will be much more difficult - Andrey Rublev, ranked 5th in the world.
If he manages to get through that too - he will complete a fifth win in less than a month over top 10 players. Crazy.
D minor.
A dream period, photo: Getty Images
De Minor is not one of the standout tennis players on the tour and does not have a particular stroke or extraordinary talent that sets him apart from the rest of his colleagues.
He knows it, he is aware of it, and it is the fuel that motivates him to continue the hard work on the way to conquering new peaks.
"The improvement in my level comes from a lot of people who don't believe in me, so I'm here to prove them wrong," he said after his first career victory over the world No. 1 earlier this month, "It's something I've heard my whole career: that I'm not big enough, not strong enough, that I have no firepower and will never be a top player.
"I hear all this week after week, but it only makes me give more fire and add more gasoline to this engine, which is ready to do everything in its power to prove people wrong," continued the Australian with an emotional frankness in front of the happy home audience, "everyone can have an opinion As for me, but I know I'm going to make the most of myself."
De Minor, nicknamed "Demon", speaks 3 languages - English, Spanish and French.
He held his first racket at the age of 4 and at the age of 5 he moved to Spain, where he grew up and continued to train as he moved along the Spain-Australia line.
To date, De Minor has won seven ATP titles and reached seven more finals.
In 2020, he qualified for the quarterfinals of the US Open Championship, but since then he has had trouble repeating the feat and has not made it past the round of 16 at any major.
Now, it seems that in the current form, it is his time to break the backlog.
De Minor after the Djokovic victory.
A defining moment, photo: E.P
In recent years, De Minor has been quite a bit in the shadow of Nick Kyrius, the former senior Australian (who also reached the final of Wimbledon 20)22, and not necessarily because of his professional achievements.
As you know, Kyrgios has turned both the tennis court and the social arena in the networks into his private madness show, which is the complete opposite of what De Minor presents.
Now that the injured Kyrius is out of the picture, hasn't played in a year and may even retire from tennis in the not-too-distant future, the humble and quiet De Minor has entered a prestigious Australian slot where the greatest locals have belonged.
He has already occupied this slot, and he really doesn't want to settle for just that.
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