“For him, coming back to Australia is very exciting. You can see he always has a perk in his step when he gets off the plane.”
Coach Matt Reid, like the rest of Alex de Minaur’s team, knows exactly what any trip Down Under means to the No. 6 in the PIF ATP Rankings.
Playing at home, especially under the intense spotlight of a Grand Slam event like the Australian Open, can affect different players in different ways. Some struggle to cope with heightened expectations and attention, while others thrive on the enhanced support and atmosphere that comes with being a local favourite.
De Minaur is in no doubt as to which applies to him.
“They get me fired up and I love it,” the 26-year-old said of Australian crowds in a new ATP behind-the-scenes documentary, Demon Down Under. “You’ll never see me bring out so much emotion as I do in Australia. It gets loud and I love it.
“The Australian Open is my home Slam. It is the most important tournament in my calendar, where I really want to do well. It’s my home Slam, full of energy, fill of crowd support and one of the best places ever.”
That isn’t to say that the Aussie swing is all plain sailing for De Minaur, who carries the weight of a nation waiting for its first Australian Open men’s singles champion since Mark Edmondson in 1976. The attention particularly ramps in in the week leading up to the hard-court major in Melbourne, when De Minaur has to balance being an ambassador for his home Slam with his own meticulous preparations for the tournament itself.
“Everybody wants a piece of him,” says De Minaur’s team manager Kathryn Oyeniyi. “He gets pulled pillar to post beforehand with media commitments and sponsor appearances. There is no downtime.”
De Minaur adds: “It’s manic. It’s absolutely manic. Some people think that the week before a Grand Slam, you can just dictate everything in your schedule and just focus on yourself. But that’s not true. There are a million commitments… Just making sure that I arrive to compete at the Australian Open in the right headspace, because that’s the ultimate goal.”
De Minaur strives to surround himself with the right people to help him cope with everything that comes with being an elite athlete. As well as Reid and Oyeniyi, he has long-term coach Adolfo Gutierrez and strength and conditioning coach Francisco Hijano Calderon within his inner circle, while his fiancée, WTA star Katie Boulter, is also a constant source of support.
“Ultimately, I trust my team with, essentially, my life,” says the 10-time ATP Tour champion De Minaur. “They often know me better than I know myself, and they can always give me great input. It’s often what I need to hear sometimes. [Like when] I need some tough love… They know the spot and the moment and everything, and that’s the reason why I can go out there and perform.”
De Minaur is well aware of the tennis legacy he is adding to as the current No. 1 Australian in the PIF ATP Rankings. Although he is dialled in on his mission to push higher up the rankings and challenge for Grand Slam titles, he also recognises the impact he can have in shaping the future of his country’s tennis landscape.
“From Rod Laver to Ken Rosewall, to Rochey (Tony Roche), to Lleyton [Hewitt], Pat Rafter, [John] Newcombe… Once you start going the list is almost never ending,” says De Minaur. “One thing I’ll always say is that if I manage to be mentioned in the same conversation as any of those greats, then I will have had an incredible career.
“I would want my legacy to be remembered that not only was I a decent tennis player, but also I did my best to inspire the next generation.”
So could De Minaur’s major breakthrough come on home soil at the 2026 Australian Open? By reaching the last eight in Melbourne a year ago, the Sydney native completed the full set of quarter-final appearances at all four Grand Slam events. Pushing even deeper to challenge the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner for the biggest titles in tennis is now high up on the agenda.
“We’ve been working on trying to take more risk under pressure, because you don’t get too many chances against the better players like Sinner and Alcaraz,” says Reid. “Just commit to it and live and die on your terms.”
Regardless of what happens this year at Melbourne Park, De Minaur will not be perturbed in his drive for further success. Any outside noise — be it the cheers of his adoring home crowd or questioning of his ability to take on the world’s best — only spurs him on.
“I know that I’ve got a lot of hunger and motivation within myself, and I’m always down to prove people wrong.”
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