"To be honest, I just felt like a truck moving": Alex de Minaur sees night and day difference from 2024 US Open campaign

Australia’s Alex de Minaur produced an impressive display in the first round of the US Open, where he secured a comfortable win against fellow countryman Christopher O'Connell in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-4, 6-4.

The win was De Minaur’s 37th in 52 matches across various competitions this year, a similar achievement to what he accomplished last year, when he won 47 matches and suffered 21 defeats. De Minaur spoke to the media after the match and discussed what the result meant to him on the day. De Minaur stated that while he was happy with his performance in the match, he also admitted that his performance was far from ‘perfect’. De Minaur also highlighted that he likes to play on the surface in New York.

“Yeah, it's good to get the ball rolling,” said De Minaur. “I mean by no means did I expect perfect tennis. You know, I'm happy to get through. It was a difficult match against a fellow teammate and the first time we played each other and you know, it was it was good to get the winning [in] straight set. Over the years, New York has treated me very well and I've played very well on these courts”

This year, across the first three Grand Slams, De Minaur had the best outing while playing in another hard-court event back at home in Australia, where he was knocked out after losing in the quarterfinal to world number one Jannik Sinner in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. De Minaur was asked about the importance of maintaining consistency throughout the year. In response, the 26-year-old stated that he has now reached a stage in his career where he believes in self-evaluation. De Minaur also highlighted that staying in the list of top-10 players for a long time has also given him a lot of confidence to produce good results at the highest level.

“Yeah, look I've got him now to a stage where ultimately I I've learned to back myself, right?,” said De Minaur. “I think I'm at the stage now in my career that In a way the results speak for themselves. So I know what I'm capable of you know. Being kind of a top 10 players for a couple years now, it gives me that confidence in myself that I can bring a certain level and there are certain matches and moments that I can count on that and look, I'm just looking to build on that.”

De Minaur was then asked about his objective in the competition. In response to that, the Sydney-born stated that his objective is to focus on daily activities. De Minaur also said that his primary aim is to reach the second week of the Grand Slam, which is the business end of the competition.

“For me, it's never going to be pretty,” said De Minaur. “That's something I've taken for granted in the first week of a Grand Slam. The goal is to get yourself to the second week of the slam and that's where you know, you can end up starting to play for these events. It does not matter how. So, for me at the moment, the sheer focus is just on every day. I had no idea who I was playing if I won the first round match. I got on the bike and then my team told me my next round opponent. That's how it is going to be in the future, you know. We're going to keep this going and I will do my best to kind of stay present and keep taking it day by day.”

Last year, De Minaur struggled with his footing on the court, an issue he has since corrected in the ongoing season. Talking about that, the world number eight admitted that things were far from perfect in 2024 and is relieved that it has improved this year. “Last year, for a while, I wasn't able to slide and even when I was playing this tournament last year,” said De Minaur. “To be honest, I just felt like a truck moving. I felt like I had no kind of [control]. I couldn't get back to the next ball right there for me where sliding comes into play. I'm able to retrieves the ball [now]. I'm trying to get to the ball. But also, it gives me a good enough set up and balance to push quickly onto the next ball right and not lose time having extra steps there. Which at times you can see on a grass court if you're not comfortable sliding. That's what happens right when you get taken out wide, you'll hit your shot and often you have one, two extra steps and those extra steps are time that you're losing towards the next ball. For me, sliding is necessary and we've seen it. We've seen how important it is in our game.”