The Australian’s energetic counter-punching game will give Dominic Thiem plenty to think about in their quarter-final
How fortunate it is that Alex de Minaur’s almost comically feeble moustache is not the best measure of the Australian’s development since he first played Dominic Thiem three years ago. In the first round of De Minaur’s debut US Open, the 18-year-old scrounged just six games against a heavy-hitting baseliner who had recently reached the Roland Garros semi-finals on his favoured clay.
“He was skinny, super-fast back then already, but now he’s a man, a super-experienced player already,” said Thiem – the second seed and three-time grand slam runner-up – of De Minaur, his quarter-final opponent at Flushing Meadows on Wednesday (Thursday morning AEST). “It’s going to be a different story.”
In this, a tournament like no other, what was significantly altered by the absences from the men’s draw of Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka et al was transformed utterly by Monday’s sensational default of Novak Djokovic, the world No 1 and an imposing favourite to claim major number 18.
Former US Open semi-finalist Wally Masur, now Tennis Australia’s Head of Professional Tennis notes the changed mindset. “Now that Novak’s out, every player will be slightly on edge because they will all think they’re a chance. Thiem and [Daniil] Medvedev, yes, are probably, on paper, the favourites, but I think a lot of the players don’t hold those two in the same awe that they might hold Novak. So the moment Novak was disqualified, I reckon the rest of the draw went ‘hey, this is wide open, or certainly a lot wider open than it was’.”
It is major last-eight company the irrepressible De Minaur is keeping for the first time, the 21st seed having overcome Canadian Vasek Pospisil 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 6-2 in the round of 16 (where he fell to Grigor Dimitrov after upsetting Kei Nishikori 12 months earlier). The former Wimbledon junior finalist may nominate grass as his favourite surface, but his best results so far have come on the hardcourts that also suit his energetic counter-punching game.
“Look I’m obviously very happy,” De Minaur said. “At the end of the day, this is where I want to be, and this is where I truly believe I belong – second weeks of slams and going deep.” With a nod to what he describes as Thiem’s “immense firepower”, De Minaur flagged the need to again stand his ground and look for any opportunity to dictate while making his opponent play an extra shot. And then one more.
“If I could definitely blast people off the court, then trust me, I would rather do that. This running thing gets tiring, that’s for sure,” he said. “Look, I’ve got to deal with what God gave me. He didn’t give me the best physique, I’m not as strong or as tall as other people so I have to find ways to win… And I want people in the locker room to know that if they’re going to beat me, they’re going to have to go through me.”
De Minaur trails 0-2 and won his only set from Thiem in the 2018 Davis Cup World Group playoff on clay in Graz. But as the Austrian acknowledges, that was very early days for a youngster he rates as one of the quickest and best movers on tour, who has “improved massively” in the past 18 months to two years. Physically, in particular.
Masur has not seen a huge transformation as much as a gradual build from a relentless hard-worker in the Lleyton Hewitt mould, and believes that had abdominal injuries not impacted De Minaur’s past two Australian summers, even better results would have come at home, too. “He’s a bit like Lleyton in that everything he does, he does at speed, with intensity, and those types of players every time they practice it’s another brick in the wall,” says Masur.
“They’re just adding a little bit more work, a little bit more work, a little bit more work. There are no days where Alex goofs off. It’s just been time; effort over time. He’s added 10 or 15% to the serve, 10 or 15% to the groundstrokes, 10 or 15% faster. It all makes a difference, and if you combine those improvements with his attitude, which has always been exemplary, he’s always been a great, great fighter, you get a quality player. And he’s only going to get better.”
Whether the current model will be good enough to negate the power and overcome the patience of Thiem, Masur is certain that “Alex knows what he has to do, he’s prepared to do it, and he’s not going to go away, but he’s going to have his work cut out.
“Thiem’s going to see this as a massive opportunity for his maiden slam, he’s going to be driven, he’s got a lot of miles in his legs and he reached that point in his career where he doesn’t have a lot of bad days… He’s not going to put in a shocker, Alex is going to have to beat him.
“Alex is up against it, make no mistake, but he’s got game. And this surface, from what I’ve been told, it’s been pretty quick and lively when the sun’s out, which certainly helps ‘Demon’ a bit. And if he can take advantage of the fact that Thiem plays a little deeper in the court than most, and come in and shorten some of the points himself, or over time work Thiem over, well, we’ll see.’’
De Minaur intends to try, supreme effort being all he knows, while his Davis Cup captain and 2011 US singles champion Hewitt has helped to instil a never-satisfied attitude of constantly striving for more.
Already, as grand slam tennis makes its fragile comeback, the 21-year-old has added his name to a list of Australian men to have reached the last eight at Flushing Meadows in the past 25 years: Hewitt, dual title-holder Pat Rafter, 1998 finalist Mark Philippoussis and the unlikely Federer-slayer John Millman. So much to come. So much to like. Except that moustache.
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