More risks and more muscle: De Minaur sets sights on Sinner, Alcaraz

2 months ago 25

Alex de Minaur has just had his longest off-season in six years: “About a week”.

Long enough to miss tennis, but not an extended period away from the game.

Alex de Minaur at Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney following a practice session with Rinky Hijikata and Lleyton Hewitt.

De Minaur, the men’s world No.7, is already preparing for 2026.

On Sunday morning, the squeak of his tennis shoes graced a resurfaced Ken Rosewall Arena for a practice session with fellow Australian Rinky Hijikata ahead of the United Cup, which starts on January 2.

Sydney is where de Minaur’s season begins, but it is the 2026 Australian Open in Melbourne that matters most.

Having now reached the quarter-finals at every grand slam, the next step for de Minaur is to reach semi-finals and finals. The presence of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner means that won’t be easy.

Alex de Minaur wants to put on extra muscle to take on tennis’ “big two” of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner.

The biggest question for de Minaur – and the rest of men’s tennis – is how do you bridge the gap to the “big two”?

“I think that’s something that we’re all trying to achieve,” de Minaur said on Sunday.

“There’s no other way than just getting better, right? That’s what it is. You ultimately have to bridge that gap ... I’ve played some very close matches over the years with both of them, and you feel like you’re getting closer and closer, and that’s what it is – you’ve got to work on your game, find new weapons.”

For de Minaur, it means getting inventive. Having never won a match against Alcaraz or Sinner from a combined 18 attempts, something has to change.

Alex de Minaur talks to the media on Sunday.

“For me, it’s finding different ways to hurt these players – trying to be ready to take more risks and be a little bit more of a disruptor,” he said.

“So it’s kind of a couple more things here and there that we’ve tried to work towards in my team throughout this off-season to kind of try to take that next step because that’s obviously the next goal.”

Part of that is packing on more muscle, and de Minaur has brought in a new fitness trainer to help make it happen.

“Ultimately, trying to get bigger and stronger and just keep on improving,” he said.

Alex de Minaur and Rinky Hijikata share a moment at the net following a practice session in Sydney.

Despite being a little tired and jet-lagged, de Minaur was in good spirits on Sunday.

But six weeks earlier, at the ATP Finals in November, he was at his most vulnerable following a loss to Italian Lorenzo Musetti, which he described as “one of the toughest days of my career”.

Two days later, the Australian bounced back with a win against Taylor Fritz, but conceded he “hated the sport” at that moment. Speaking of that time on Sunday, he said he was glad he could be honest with himself.

“A lot of the time I feel like us players put on a brave face, and that’s what we try to do most of the time, and sometimes certain matches they just hit differently,” he said.

“It was a way of me to just express my feelings, kind of get it out there, give myself a chance to regroup and, obviously, I was very pumped with the way I bounced back for my next match.

“I learnt about myself in those finals ... I learnt from my mistakes, how I felt after the match, I made sure for the next match I wasn’t going to feel the same way and, ultimately, it’s about kind of that shift in mindset.”

Watch the 2026 United Cup from January 2 on Nine, 9Now and Stan Sports