Alex de Minaur’s ‘difficult’ call ahead of Wimbledon after ‘weird’ training moment with Boulter

Alex de Minaur has made a sad revelation about his break from tennis and says even fiancee Katie Boulter couldn’t help snap him out of a recent funk. De Minaur admits he was left ‘mentally drained’ and ‘fatigued’ after a brutal exit at the French Open last month, and needed some time out from the sport after deciding not to defend his Rosmalen grass-court title in the Netherlands.

The eye-opening move sees de Minaur lose valuable ranking points, pushing him outside the top-10 where he’s been an almost ever-present fixture for more than eight months. The decision could affect his seeding for the upcoming Wimbledon championships and make life more difficult for Australia’s top-ranked male at the All England Club.

But de Minaur insists he was in such urgent need of a break after struggling mentally and physically in the wake of his heartbreaking French Open exit. The Aussie suffered an extraordinary loss from two-sets up, going down in five sets to 62nd-ranked opponent, Alexander Bublik, in a shocking capitulation.

“Obviously, I’m doing a lot better now,” de Minaur told AAP at the prestigious Queen’s Club, where he returns to action against Czech Jiri Lehecka on Tuesday. The Aussie said he needed a ‘reset’ from the sport and a ‘week of doing nothing’ related to tennis, and that even a hit-out with his fiancee on the London grass courts failed to lift his spirits.

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“After Roland Garros, it was definitely a week of doing nothing, having nothing to do with tennis. That’s very rare for me, very rare. I can’t remember the last time I did that,” de Minaur revealed. “It felt quite weird because I did try to help Katie as a hitting partner in practice and I just didn’t enjoy it at all. And I was like ‘I can’t remember the last time I haven’t enjoyed having a hit on the grass’.

“So that was a little bit of a false start, and then I decided to take three more days off and since then, I’ve been building and feeling better and better, and now I’m very excited to get started.” De Minaur said it was important for him to live the life of a “normal human being” again and was just happy to go out for coffees and dinners, as well as visiting parks to relieve the stress.

Alex de Minaur needed to be ‘normal’ after ‘difficult decision’

“Anything I would define as being a normal human being and having a normal human being’s life, instead of obsessing about tennis 24/7,” he said. “In a way, the defeat (at the French Open) helped me kind of get a little bit of perspective on why certain things were happening. I realised I was quite mentally drained out and fatigued.

“So I’ve used these two weeks since to disconnect from the game a little bit and make sure I come back to competing with the same energy that I’m known for.” De Minaur has been able to enjoy having a base in London with Boulter for the whole month and says it’s helped put him “in the right headspace” again, even if the decision not to defend his grass-court title in the Netherlands could come back to bite him.

“It was a difficult decision not to defend my title, but it wasn’t only the mind, but the body that was a little battered up. My shoulder didn’t feel amazing,” he said. “But the way I looked at it – and what is healthy for me – is to stop obsessing about rankings and whether I go up or go down every week, and try to go back to a place where I’m just enjoying playing tennis and not thinking about all those outside factors, because it just gives added stress.

“I’ve got to start having a little bit more of a mentality of a big player and start backing myself to not have to play so many tournaments, and to hopefully do well in the big events. Mentally, I do feel I’m in the right spot, and even if it doesn’t bring results this week, I’m confident that it will help me in the long run.”

with agencies