Last week’s Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up Alex De Minaur was honoured as the 2018 Newcomer of the Year during the 2018 ATP World Tour Awards at the Nitto ATP Finals in London.
Alex was born in Sydney to a Spanish mother Esther and a Uruguayan father Anibal. Alex spent the first five years of his life in Australia before moving to Alicante in Spain. The family returned to Australia, when he was 13 years old, and went back to Spain three years later. De Minaur spends his time between Australia and Spain. Alex speaks English, Spanish and French.
The Australian player of Spanish and Uruguayan origin started the 2018 season ranked world number 208 and ended the year with a career-high of world number 31. He started the season with a semifinal in Brisbane and a a final in Sydney. He won the ATP Challenger title in Nottingham last June and reached the biggest final so far in his career in Washington. At Grand Slam level he reached the third round at Wimbledon and at the US Open. He lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in four sets in the title match at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan last week.
He is currently the second youngest player ranked in the top 100 and the highest Australian player in singles.
“This is incredible. I did not really expect to reach this ranking so quicky. At the start of the year I and my team had set the goal to reach the top 100, but the year has gone extremely well. I reached my first final in Washington against Alexander Zverev. I am proud to be here in Milan for the Next Gen Finals. I am enjoying every second of it. It gives you a lot of hunger to be able to try to make it here. This is definitely one of my goals and I will do everything in my power to get here one day. It’s been an incredible season, starting in Australia, playing in front of the home crowd. It’s a dream come true, and I am looking forward to next year”, said De Minaur.
De Minaur works with Australian legend Lleyton Hewitt, who is Alex’s mentor during Grand Slam tournaments and Davis Cup ties.
