Alex de Minaur took to the mic of the Iguales podcast this week where he enjoyed a deep, varied and frank conversation. The Australian answered every question Jaime Leal ‘Gravesen’ could throw at him in perfect Spanish. Alex, whose mother is Spanish and who lived in Alicante for several years, feels like Madrid is his second home.
Their conversation touched upon mental health, how the Australian player approaches his career and the need to work on psychology: “At the start of my career I had a psychologist for many years. I think it really helped me understand myself better. Now, thanks to the tools I learned and the team that I have around me, I’m able to identify what’s happening to me at different times. I’m very happy to have worked with psychologists for a long time”.
Alex recognises that it is a fundamental topic, that you don’t normally win in tennis and when you do it’s also easy to lose your focus. Only one player lifts the trophy at the end of each tournament: “In tennis you play every week, and you lose most of them. The most important thing is to turn the page and learn to handle those moments and your mistakes”. However, he also explained that you need a certain hunger if you want to keep growing: “At the same time, and even when you lose, you’re trying to get the best out of yourself and your career. But when you start achieving the goals you had when you were little, you get there and you always want more, it’s never enough. You have to know how to handle that. In my case it’s what makes me improve every day”.
Having established himself among the elite, he knows what he is talking about: “A couple of years ago I realised that I was a bit stuck. I was among the top twenty in the world, which is very good, but I knew I could do more, that I had another level and that’s how I managed to turn it around and improve my game”. Another player may have settled where he was, but not Alex. His hunger to be one of the best is what drives him forward.
On court in Madrid, De Minaur continues to demonstrate the level of tennis he is capable of. On Tuesday he progressed to the last sixteen of the tournament by beating Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 7-5 . He is the only player who has managed to reach this point in all four Masters 1000s so far this season. His consistency is his biggest weapon. Now, Alex de Minaur is waiting to step up. For a place in the quarters, he will take on the winner of the clash between Stefanos Tsitsipas and Lorenzo Musetti.
