Alex de Minaur believes there is a notable difference between the courts at Queen’s compared to Wimbledon.
De Minaur began his grass court season last week at the ATP 250 tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where he lost in the final to Kamil Majchrzak.
The world number six will be looking to go one better at Queen’s, where De Minaur is hoping to become the first Australian champion in 20 years.
De Minaur is the top seed in London and he has already reached the quarter-finals, and after winning his latest match he compared the courts at Queen’s to Wimbledon.
Alex de Minaur suggests it is easier to hit winners at Queen’s than at Wimbledon
De Minaur beat Denis Shapovalov 6-4, 6-1 to reach the quarter-finals and in his post-match press conference after the match he was asked about courts at Queen’s compared to Wimbledon.
The 27-year-old explained that he has previously found the courts at Wimbledon to be slower, with the ball bouncing lower, and therefore making it more difficult to hit winners.
“I do think it probably — it’s a little bit, since it’s shorter, it props up and bounces a little bit higher here,” De Minaur said about Queen’s courts. “I think, yeah, Wimbledon, every year it’s a little bit different, so I won’t know until I step out on those courts in a couple weeks’ time.
“But they are normally a little bit slower, and the bounce is a little bit lower. Sometimes, you know, the ball kind of gets stuck, right. Maybe here, if you hit a good slice, it kind of slips through and really kind of penetrates through the court.
“I feel like sometimes at Wimbledon, in the previous years, it’s a little bit longer, so it doesn’t go through the court as much and it checks up sometimes.
“Look, it makes for different styles of tennis, right, which is kind of week to week, and you just got to do your best to kind of adapt. But, yeah, I’m looking forward to it. That’s for sure.”
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Alex de Minaur explains what he gets worried about at the start of the grass court season
De Minaur was asked many questions about grass courts in his press conference, including about how they cause players to slip and how he has learnt to deal with that.
The Australian admitted that he gets worried about his footwork at the start of the grass court season, but De Minaur revealed what he now does to avoid getting injured.
“Yeah, look, I think as you play more and more on grass, as you have years of experience, you start to understand the different types of grass courts, and as I said, the length of the grass is a big factor on whether you slip or you slide on a grass court, and how easy it is to do that,” said De Minaur.
“Queen’s is notoriously easy to kind of slip and slide onto your shots. For me, one of the things I try to do whenever I come onto a grass court swing, of course the first couple of days you’re very worried about your footwork, and you’re quite wary, but as you spend more and more time until that first time that you commit to going out wide and sliding, and then you realize that, okay, this is normal, you start to treat it a little bit more like a hard court, and you kind of end up trying to slide.
“You’re always going to slip, and that’s part of it, and you do your best to kind of hopefully not hurt yourself, but when you’re purposely trying to slide to end range of shots, you’re doing that with confidence, and that’s going to, you know, going to be less chance of you getting injured, I’d say.”
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De Minaur added when asked if he has slipped on grass, “Yeah, I think it’s part of it. I mean, everyone slips and slides. You see it every match, right? It’s nothing out of the ordinary. You’ve got slips, slides, dives, the whole works, right?
“But that’s always kind of the fun of a grass court that, you know, some players would be, you know, confident enough to go out there and dive on a hard court or clay. You’ll never see me doing that. The only time I will is on a grass court, because I know it’s a softer landing, and so you have a little bit of fun with that.”
De Minaur will look to continue his impressive start to the grass court season in the Queen’s quarter-finals against Brandon Nakashima.
This is a third meeting between the two players, with De Minaur and Nakashima’s head-to-head currently level at 1-1.
