Alex de Minaur has started his 2022 season in style by recording one of the biggest wins of his career and he believes there is plenty more to come.
The 22-year-old is currently ranked 34th in the world which is considerably down on his best of 15th which was achieved last June. He has won five Tour titles and has made more than $5.7M in prize money. On the other hand, he has yet to find consistency when it comes to playing in the biggest tournaments of the sport. In the majors he has reached the quarter-final stage in one out of 17 attempts. Furthermore, the Australian No.1 is yet to reach the last eight of a Masters 1000 tournament.
Nevertheless, de Minaur has proven before that he has the potential to take on the top guns and reminded the Tour of this with a high profile victory at the ATP Cup on Sunday. Taking on Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, he defeated the Italian 6-3, 7-6(4). A player who he lost at The Queen’s Club last summer in what was their first meeting.
Berrettini is one of the highest ranked players de Minaur has defeated in his career so far. He has also previously scored wins over Kei Nishikori at the US Open in 2019 and Alexander Zverev at the 2019 ATP Cup who coincidentally were also ranked seventh in the world at the time.
“It’s everything,” de Minaur said of his latest win.
“I think it’s no secret that this court brings out the best in me. There’s no place like playing at home and in front of a packed crowd. It was amazing.”
De Minaur says he is in the best shape of his life after what was a mixed second half of last year. He was forced to miss the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for COVID-19. When he returned, the Australian only managed to win back-to-back matches in one out of seven tournaments played, which was in Indian Wells.
“This is what you work hard for,” he said of beating Berrettini. “I’m back. I worked really hard to be here, I’m in the best shape of my life, and I’m ready to have a big year.”
At the ATP Cup Australia defeated Italy 2-1 following a decisive win in the doubles. John Peers and Luke Saville scored a 6-3, 7-5, victory over Berrettini and Simone Bolelli. As for the Italians, their only victory was Jannik Sinner who brushed aside Max Purcell 6-1, 6-3.
“I thought we were at a great level tonight,” Savile said.
“I’ve loved being a part of this group and this team this week.”
De Minaur and his team will return to action on Tuesday when they take on defending champions Russia. He is currently scheduled to take on world No.2 Daniil Medvedev, who lost his first singles match of the year to France’s Ugo Humbert.