Alex de Minaur of Australia started the year well, winning a couple of matches at the ATP Cup and also reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open before losing to Jannik Sinner. Then he reached the quarterfinal of the Rotterdam Open before losing to top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
He then excelled in the Davis Cup tie against Hungary by winning both his rubbers. He performed quite creditably in the Indian Wells and Miami Masters, reaching the fourth and third rounds of those tournaments, respectively.
Alex de Minaur in 2022
A mixed bag in the European Clay Swing:
De Minaur had a mixed fortune in the clay court tournaments. He lost in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters, but reached the semifinal of the Barcelona Open by beating Cam Norrie in the quarterfinal.
He lost narrowly to Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinal despite having two match points. He was then defeated in the second round of the Madrid Open, but managed to reach the third round of the Italian Open before losing to Alexander Zverev. He then fared poorly at Roland Garros, losing in the first round itself in a match that lasted almost four hours.
A decent end to the year:
De Minaur registered an upset win over the big-serving Reilly Opelka in the first round of the Queen’s Club Championships, but was beaten in the second round. He then won the sixth title of his career by emerging victorious at the Atlanta Open.
He then reached the semifinal of the Stockholm Open and then registered his biggest win of the year at the Paris Masters by beating Daniil Medvedev. It was also first win against a Top 5 player in 19 attempts.
De Minaur, however, remains a defensive player primarily, with his exceptional court coverage allowing him to prolong the rallies. His first serve is quite decent, but his weaker second serve can often be exploited by his opponents. He has, however, improved his volleying skills considerably in the recent past.
Still, he is only 23 and has enough time to break into the top 10-15 players of the world by overcoming those weaknesses, trained on clay, he is a versatile player.
Main Photo from Getty.
