{"id":295705,"date":"2025-07-27T11:09:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T11:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295705\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T11:09:14","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T11:09:14","slug":"alex-de-minaur-names-the-big-change-he-made-off-the-court-three-years-ago-which-helped-him-break-into-the-top-ten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/295705\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex de Minaur names the \u2018big change\u2019 he made off the court three years ago which helped him break into the top ten"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alex de Minaur is into the Washington Open final, having fought through an error-strewn match with Corentin Moutet.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was far from a sparkling performance from the 26-year-old, committing 33 unforced errors despite his 6-4, 6-3 victory.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, when the opportunity arose to take a lead over his opponent, he was clinical enough to override these uncharacteristic mistakes. He converted five of his seven break points, but will now face a hugely in-form Alejandro Davidovich Fokina for the title.<\/p>\n

De Minaur has enjoyed a mixed year thus far, but is crucially still without a title in 2025.<\/p>\n

However, he will have to change plenty from that semi-final performance if he is to get over the line.<\/p>\n

Alex de Minaur reveals the crucial change he made a few years ago<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking after yesterday\u2019s Washington Open<\/a> match, which saw him reach a 19th ATP Tour-level final, change was actually one topic of conversation, as attention inexplicably turned to his racket.<\/p>\n

After all, from the outside looking in, the Australian had opted for a new model.<\/p>\n

\"AlexPhoto by Marleen Fouchier\/BSR Agency\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

These kinds of changes are often well-documented and can have a huge impact on a player. And yet, this one went under the radar.<\/p>\n

However, De Minaur shed some light on the situation, whilst also revealing the change he made a few years back, which completely altered his career: \u201cYeah, what I\u2019m supposed to say is my racket is more powerful and it\u2019s given me the edge, right (smiling)?<\/p>\n

\u201cBut look, I have actually always enjoyed a little bit of a change, even if it\u2019s a different paint job. I have changed now from the Blade to the Ultra paint job, and it\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s something different.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far, it\u2019s working pretty well, right? So I\u2019m going to get the results this week and say thank you to Wilson for that one.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBut as for me, I don\u2019t like changing much when it comes to racquets. The thought process I have is the racquet that I have has helped me so much in my career and has taken me to a certain point in my career. It would be almost pretty stupid for me to change that, right, and to look for something more.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut even though saying that, three or four years ago, I decided to add an extra string in my string pattern, and I changed to half gut, right? And that was a big change for me in my career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt took a little bit of adjusting to, but I do think it was a key improvement that helped me, you know, break into the top 10 and take the next step.\u201d<\/p>\n

This came after De Minaur gave his thoughts on electronic line calling in tennis<\/a>, and if he\u2019s in favour of its widespread integration within the sport.<\/p>\n

Could Alex de Minaur be a threat at the US Open?<\/strong><\/p>\n

For all his talent and hard work, with a career-high ranking of sixth in the world, many would expect De Minaur to be a regular threat for Grand Slam titles.<\/p>\n

And yet, he has never actually surpassed the quarter-final stage at any of the four majors.<\/p>\n

Last year even saw him reach that round in three of the four events, but he was beaten on every occasion.<\/p>\n

This did mark progress from 2023, but 2025 has almost seen him regress, suffering a second-round exit in Paris and a fourth-round defeat at Wimbledon.<\/p>\n

\"AlexPhoto by Nicol\u00f2 Campo\/LightRocket via Getty Images<\/p>\n

With all the talent he boasts, De Minaur should be going further, and the US Open later this summer offers the final opportunity for him to do so this year.<\/p>\n

On paper, his hard-working philosophy and clean ball-striking should translate well to the New York conditions.<\/p>\n

It really feels like deep progression will rely on his fitness and his mental fortitude, if he is to bypass that dreaded quarter-final hoodoo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex de Minaur is into the Washington Open final, having fought through an error-strewn match with Corentin Moutet.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[11809,79,1068,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-295705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-alex-de-minaur","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-tennis","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114924890784435885","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=295705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/295705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/295706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=295705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=295705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=295705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}