De Minaur embraces home support ahead of Australian Open

Alex de Minaur is relishing the opportunity to play in front of home fans at the Australian Open, with the top-ranked Aussie focused on playing his best tennis in Melbourne over the next fortnight.

“As Australian tennis players, we spend the majority of the year overseas,” de Minaur explained to the media ahead of the tournament.

“To get the chance and opportunity to start the year here at home in the summer, it just means the world.

“For us, every time I’m stepping out there, I know the crowd is excited for some tennis. They’re ready to get the year started.

“As tennis players, as Aussie tennis players, we want to do everything we can to play some of our best tennis.”

World No.8 de Minaur has found himself in Jannik Sinner’s quarter of the draw at the year’s first Grand Slam, but remains on the seventh line of betting ($51) to win the tournament across most tennis betting apps.

Despite the challenges ahead of him and the increased media attention as Australia’s best hope of a Grand Slam title in 2025, the 25-year-old is focused on what he needs to do in Melbourne.

“My job is to walk on court and do my best to win tennis matches essentially.

“I still have the same prep. Nothing really changes.

“There’s always going to be a lot of outside noise, but I’m very fortunate that I have a great team around me that we can kind of focus on our own little bubble.

“We’ve got kind of this, yeah, tunnel vision going into these types of tournaments, slams.

“I’m going to do my best to hopefully play a lot of matches here, win a lot of matches, do Australia proud.”

When asked outright if he believes he can win his maiden Grand Slam title this month, de Minaur was coy in his response.

“Look, anything can happen, right?” he said.

“It is tennis at the end of the day.

“If it was strictly based on rankings, it would be quite a boring sport? But anything can happen at this stage.

“We’ve seen opportunities arise, lots of doors opening up.

“There’s always a chance. Every time you step out for a tournament, you always got to think that there’s a chance.

“It is a long tournament. It starts with the first round.

“So ultimately for me it’s always about having that tunnel vision, focusing on first-round opponent, which is a tough one, then do what I can.”

De Minaur begins his campaign against Dutchman Botic van de Zandsculp, who eliminated world No.3 Carlos Alcaraz from last year’s US Open.

The pair have played once before – a three-set victory to de Minaur – but Neds has the home hope at a short $1.06 to prevail and make the second round.

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