Consistency meets ambition: Alex de Minaur ready to smash new barriers

Australia’s Alex de Minaur has once again reiterated his desire to ‘break through’ new barriers. The 26-year-old cemented his spot in the fourth round of the US Open after beating Daniel Altmaier. The final score of the match was 6-7, 6-3, 6-4, 2-0. His opponent was forced to retire in the fourth set because of a fitness concern.

Earlier this year, in an interview, De Minaur stated that he feels he is playing the best tennis of his career and is ready to compete with the world's best players for major titles. After securing a third-round win in New York, De Minaur once again reiterated his ambition of going far in major events.

De Minuar was asked about what he feels after becoming just the fourth player this year, after Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic, to book a spot in the fourth round of every Grand Slam. In response to that, De Minaur stated that while he is ‘very happy with that stat’ but remains focus on his goal which is to go to the next level on the court.

“Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is my loss at French Open,” said De Minaur. “That one still haunts me. But no, obviously, it's the results doing the talking. And it's a great stat to have. It shows my consistency. Myself, what I pride myself in is showing up every single day. And I can have some good days or bad days on the tennis court. But ultimately, I'm still going to go out there and compete and fight till the very last point. And yeah, I mean, I'm very happy with that stat. Now it's about taking it to the next level, right? And breaking through some new barriers. That's the goal.”

De Minaur then went on to praise Altmaier for his performance in the competition. The 26-year-old stated that he tried to make the contest more physical, knowing fully well that Altmaier was coming into the match after playing 10 hours of tennis in the competition.

“Going into that match, look, I know he spent 10 hours on court, right? He can't hide away from that,” said De Minaur. “And the fact that he's such a good competitor, he came out ready for a battle, right? And that first set kind of slipped away from me. But in the back of my mind, I knew that if I couldn't make this physical, then I was probably going to be in a better shape, a little bit fresher than he was. But yeah, even though saying that, it was complicated because he's playing with such amazing confidence. He's had some great wins. His match against Tsitsipas was an absolute epic. And I think over the years, he's changed his style of play. And he's become a more aggressive player. And at the same time, he becomes a lot more dangerous this way. So first set slipped away. But I did well to kind of lock in. Start of the second, saving some crucial break points and then managed to kind of swing the momentum my way. And then things started to feel a little bit better.

De Minaur’s next opponent will be Leandro Riedi of Switzerland. The 23-year-old cemented his spot in the fourth round of the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year after being awarded a walkover against Poland’s Kamil Majchrzak. Talking about what he is expecting in the next round, De Minaur stated that he considers Riedi a ‘dangerous opponent. De Minaur also dismissed the notion that any player is ‘lucky’ to be in the last-16 of a Grand Slam.

“What I make is that he's going to be dangerous,” said De Minaur. “I mean, any player that has a winning match streak and he's come through qualies and especially the type of player that he is, which is he's a big hitter. He's going to be dangerous, right? He's going to try to hit the cover off the ball. And, you know, my job is ultimately going to be make his life as difficult as I can, right? And see how that goes. But no player in this stage is there by sheer luck. You know, he's earned his right there and I'm ready for a complicated match. I think he'll come out swinging.”