It is never a nice feeling to be criticized for what you do but for Alex de Minaur it only adds fuel to the fire.
The Australian world No.18 is enjoying a surge in form in recent weeks which began at the Los Cabos Open where he reached the final before losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas. Then at this week’s Canadian Masters, unseeded de Minaur scored a trio of high-profile wins over Cameron Norrie, Taylor Fritz and Daniil Medvedev. On Saturday he sealed his place in his first-ever Masters final with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-3, triumph over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
De Minaur has been a regular fixture on the men’s Tour for a few years with him winning a total of seven Tour titles so far. He has struggled against top 10 opposition during stages of his career with his win-loss record currently standing at 13-34. However, this year he has won six out of 10 of those matches. His best Grand Slam run was to the quarter-finals of the 2020 US Open.
Whilst there is plenty for the 24-year-old to be proud of, it still doesn’t stop some from criticizing him and questioning his ability to rise to the very top of the men’s game. Something de Minaur is now using to motivate him.
“I’m looking to prove a lot of the people wrong,” he said, “That’s probably the biggest thing for me. I take a lot of pride in what I do and a lot of people don’t have a lot of belief in me, but I get a real sense of satisfaction proving people wrong.”
As to what it is that has enabled him to go deep in Toronto this week, De Minaur credits his mental approach to the tournament following a quick turnaround from Los Cabos. He played his first doubles match in Toronto the day after losing to Tsitsipas in Mexico.
“I think it’s been a great mindset from day one. I had a very quick turnaround from Los Cabos. I got in at 1:00 a.m. Monday. I played doubles that day. And the following day, I had to start my singles on Tuesday,” he said.
“I just told myself to keep going at it. If I kept on giving myself chances, that there’s always a better chance that the next day I was going to play better tennis and find a better level, and that’s what I’ve been doing.”
De Minaur’s next opponent will be Jannik Sinner who was his partner in the doubles tournament. He is yet to beat the Italian on the Tour with all four of their previous meetings being on a hard court.
“Jannik is one of the better ball strikers on tour. His ball speed is up there with definitely the highs from both sides. And he can definitely pound the ball.” He said of his upcoming opponent.
“I’m going to bring the same mindset. I’m going to go out there and enjoy it and compete until the end.”
De Minaur will rise to a career-high ranking of No.12 on Monday following his run in Toronto and will seal the 11th spot if he beats Sinner on Sunday.
