Alex De Minaur’s recovery pays off: “It had been a long time since I moving as quickly as today”:

Alex De Minaur was more than pleased with his level at the United Cup despite being eliminated in the group stage. The world No. 9 secured victories over Tomas Martin Etcheverry and Billy Harris, conceding just 8 games across both matches, though it wasn’t enough to advance to the quarterfinals.

Nevertheless, the Australian was more than happy with his individual performance in the tournament. De Minaur mentioned that he feels in peak physical condition and has shown some of his best form, putting behind an injury that troubled him in 2024.

“Now officially last year I struggled with an injury that sidelined me and took away one of my biggest assets, which was my movement. It took me a very long time to get back,” he told reporters.

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De Minaur expresses joy over recovery 

The Australian had a hip injury that forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon last year. He had reached the quarterfinals and was preparing to face Novak Djokovic but wasn’t in condition to step onto the court. He then missed a significant portion of the US hardcourt swing, withdrawing from the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Open, before reappearing at the US Open nearly two months after withdrawing from SW19.

As De Minaur recently mentioned, although he continued playing tournaments for the rest of the year, he hadn’t felt fully physically recovered during the latter part of 2024. “It was safe to say that it had been a long time since I felt my feet moving as quickly as they did today and doing all of that without pain.”

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“It was a really good feeling. So kind of gave me — you know, gave me some goose bumps because it felt good to finally be back at that level,” he added.

De Minaur ended his United Cup participation on a high note, as Andrey Rublev's early loss in the Hong Kong Open allowed him to reach world No. 8 just in time for the final seeding decisions ahead of the Australian Open. With this, he positioned himself as the 8th seed, allowing him to avoid higher-ranked opponents until at least the quarterfinals.

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