Alex de Minaur backed to ‘go deep at the Australian Open’ by former World No.1
Alex de Minaur has been backed to challenge for the Australian Open title by mentor and former World No.1 Lleyton Hewitt.
De Minaur is coming off the back of his best season to date, reaching three Grand Slam quarter-finals and adding two ATP titles to his resume.
This enabled the Australian to break into the top 10 for the first time, but it was not all positive for De Minaur in 2024.
The 25-year-old suffered a serious hip injury at Wimbledon, and was only able to play a further five events in the rest of the season.
De Minaur has returned for the 2025 season in form, winning his two singles matches at the United Cup in straight sets, despite Australia suffering an early exit.
And when speaking to the Australian Associated Press, De Minaur’s United Cup and Davis Cup captain Hewitt has answered whether he thinks the World No.9 can challenge for the Australian Open title.
“Absolutely,” said the two-time major winner. “I’m just so happy for Alex to be back playing like he wants to play again. Only probably his close-knit team know exactly what he’s been dealing with and how frustrating that’s been, and he still kept showing up and giving 100 percent and not making excuses.”
Hewitt continued, “So, for me, the last week or so that he’s been here in training and doing the hard work, it’s been great to see him being able to enjoy that pain-free and moving the way that he wants to.
“The court and everything else starts coming together. And, like he always says, it’s about embracing this month of the year and enjoying the moments.”
70% of Earth is covered by water…the rest is covered by Alex De Minaur 🤯@alexdeminaur #UnitedCup pic.twitter.com/jpGi96bjba
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) January 1, 2025
Although the Australian Open is De Minaur’s home Grand Slam tournament, it is the only major where he has not reached the quarter-finals.
However, Hewitt has suggested that De Minaur has a good opportunity to perform well, “Alex has got as good a shot as anyone of obviously going deep at the Australian Open. But first things first, you’ve got to get there and you take care of business and hopefully find a way to navigate your way into the second week of the slam, and then anything can happen.”
De Minaur get his Australian Open campaign underway soon, with the first major of 2025 getting underway on Sunday 12th January.
Inside the baseline…
Alex de Minaur definitely raised expectations of himself last year, and perhaps showed that he has a ceiling higher than most people thought. Lleyton Hewitt has obviously spent a lot of time with De Minaur over the years, and understandably backs him more than most. De Minaur can definitely achieve his best result at the Australian Open this year and maybe even his best Grand Slam result, but it does feel like the draw would need to really open up for him to have a chance at winning it.
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