Tennis: De Minaur has ‘more in the tank’ heading to Dubai

Alex de Minaur has unfinished business heading into the Dubai Tennis Championships this week, with the Australian chasing his first title of the year.

De Minaur arrives at the ATP 500 tournament on the second line of betting at most tennis bookmakers thanks to his red-hot form over the opening six weeks of the season.

He boasts a 13-3 record in 2025, with his only losses coming to the eventual champions of the three events he has contested: Jannik Sinner in Melbourne, Carlos Alcaraz in Rotterdam, and Andrey Rublev in Doha.

“I’m pretty happy with the way I’ve started the year,” he said on Sunday in Dubai.

“I played some great tennis.

“I’ve lost to Jannik. I’ve lost to Carlos. Now I lost to Andrey with having a match point.

“Obviously the last one stings a little bit because I feel like I had my chances. It just kind of slipped away in the very end.”

While de Minaur could be rueing his missed opportunities so far this year, instead the No.2 seed in Dubai is focused on going one step further.

Marantelli Bet has him priced at $6 to win the tournament, alongside Daniil Medvedev and narrowly behind outright favourite Andrey Rublev ($5.50).

De Minaur has a reasonably favourable draw, as he is seeded to face Frenchman Arthur Fils — who he beat comfortably at Wimbledon last year — in the quarter-finals.

“It’s all about putting myself in those situations, giving myself the opportunity to play a lot of matches — win a lot of matches,” he said.

“I’m doing the right things. I’m confident that it’s going to lead me in the right direction and help me achieve the goals I want to achieve.

“The way I finished 2024 and everything that happened last year just gave me a lot of hunger and motivation to kind of pursue the grind, keep working hard, keep trying to improve on the little things that I can.

“I was very happy with what I achieved, but I still believe I’ve got more in the tank.

“Ultimately I just want to fulfil that.”

The 26-year-old begins against veteran Marin Cilic on Tuesday, where leading online bookmakers have him at $1.07 to win.

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