IIf Alex de Minaur is looking for reasons for optimism as he tries to overcome the disappointment of narrowly missing out on a maiden Grand Slam semi-final berth at Roland Garros, he may be looking to history.
The Australian fell to Germany’s Alexander Zverev 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in a grueling quarter-final on Wednesday night in Germany. It was especially difficult for him as the man was eliminated in the slow and breezy race. De Minaur missed set point in the second set, but over the next few days the 25-year-old will swap dirt for grass, first to relax with some golf and then to start on grass — —Court Season.
If clay and grass seem to be polar opposites, then for De Minaur, what happened in Paris over the past two weeks and his efforts throughout the clay court season should work in his favor. The effect of hitting so many balls, scoring so many runs and winning so many games on a pitch he once doubted could be overstated.
“[There is] There’s a lot to learn,” he said. “These are the games I want to play. I think it shows the improvement and the leap I’ve made as a player, and to be able to come out here and play a quarter on my least favorite surface shows that I’m ready Well take it to whoever I’m going to go all out against anybody and now look forward to jumping on the grass.
The omen for a strong run on the grass is good. Many players who don’t consider themselves clay court specialists had a strong and surprising performance at Roland Garros, then excelled on grass and later that same year on hard courts. When John McEnroe won his first Wimbledon title in 1981, he was reaching what was then a career-best quarter-final at Roland Garros. Richard Krajicek reached the semifinals in Paris in 1996 and won Wimbledon a month later; Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg Edberg, Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter all exceeded expectations on clay and then shone on their favorite surface, Rafter After reaching the quarterfinals here, he won the U.S. Open in 1997. In 1991, German Michael Stich seemed to emerge from nowhere, reaching the semi-finals in Paris and then beating Becker in the Wimbledon final. Even Pete Sampras, who had spent most of his career on clay, reached the quarterfinals in Paris in 1992, the year he won his first Wimbledon title.
De Minaur should also take a huge boost from his performance over the past two weeks, reaching his second Grand Slam quarter-final four years after his first at the US Open. One final. The serve is better and faster than ever – one hit 216km/h in a fourth-round victory over Daniil Medvedev – and so is his willingness to step up and his ability to do so. In return, he won 64% of his points in front of the net. After his efforts on clay, his battle experience should bring additional benefits on grass, where the relatively smooth surface will work in his favor.
Newsletter Promotion Post
“I sure wish I didn’t run on the grass so much,” he said with a smile. “I’m going to try my best to control it a little more and I hope my ball can penetrate a little more. I’m excited about the grass and happy to have the surface help me out of trouble. For me, that’s always It’s a big part of the season and I’m always looking forward to it. We’ll see how it goes this year because I’ve never played this deep at Roland Garros, so hopefully it will bring a lot of motivation and confidence on the grass.
De Minaur, who equals his career-high at ninth in the ATP Live Rankings, will start his grass-court season at the Libema Open in the Netherlands before heading to London’s Queen’s Club for major tournaments before It’s Wimbledon, where he hopes to surpass his previous best result was a fourth-round run in 2022, when he lost to Christian Garin in a final-set tie-break.
But first he would give up tennis in favor of another sport – golf. “We’ll probably go to the golf course over the next few days and play some golf,” he said. “For me, the transition from clay to grass is something I look forward to every year. Sometimes you might need to step away from the tennis court for a while, but the fact that I’m stepping onto a grass court puts me in a good position. So. I’ll be on the golf course grass and on the tennis court grass. That’s me.
