Alex De Minaur is ready to lead the Australian tennis culture change according to Todd Woodbridge.
It’s time for Alex De Minaur to face the weight of pressure as he prepares to lead the Australian charge at his home Grand Slam.
An incredible 2024 was produced by the Australian number one as De Minaur beat the likes of Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev in order to make his top ten and Nitto ATP Finals debut.
Speaking on De Minaur’s current success, 16-time Grand Slam doubles champion Todd Woodbridge said that the Australian has an ‘aura’ about him and is now leading a culture change in Australia, “The mentality is one of his assets. His competitive mentality to go, ‘You’re going to have to beat me, I’m not going to give you today’s match’. That’s become an aura for him,” Woodbridge told the ATP website.
“He wins a lot of matches now because a lot of guys aren’t able to hang in there mentally. They’ll come at him for 15, 20, 45 minutes and he absorbs it. The opponent falls over and then he’s a great momentum player. As soon as he gets that momentum, he can ride it home. He’s got these attributes that aren’t massive like a huge serve, massive forehand, but you put them together and they are a sensational package.
“I don’t think anyone puts in more work than him. There are guys that obviously work really hard and you don’t see everything they do. But he works as hard as anyone that I can see out on Tour. From an Australian tennis perspective, he’s driving a culture — a culture that traditionally has been in our country, he’s bringing it back.
“It’s about hard work, discipline, good decisions, right people around you and the results. You put all those things in place and you get this career path that he’s created for himself.”
De Minaur’s career and 2024 season was definitely impressive but there was one setback when he was forced to withdraw from his Wimbledon semi-final with Novak Djokovic.
Woodbridge said the injury was a shock to De Minaur’s system but has been impressed with how the Australian has bounced back since then, “I think it was a bit of a shock to his system — and mentally to his confidence — what happened at Wimbledon,” the Australian told the ATP website.
“He was playing the greatest tennis of his life with a really good chance to beat Novak and get to a semi-final. And it got taken away from him by physicality, which is just what he’s relied on so much. You don’t think about it, you’re immortal at that age.
“So it was that first time in his career where he actually had to think about his body in a different way. He’s had a strain here and there, but this was serious. To see him have total confidence in his movement in this tournament and then to go down to Melbourne, I think it’s massive for him for the whole year, not just at the start at the Open, but for the whole season.”
De Minaur will begin his Australian Open campaign against Botic Van De Zandschulp on Tuesday.
