Alex de Minaur: 'Matches between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal gave me..'

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have forged one of the greatest rivalries in the history of tennis since 2004. Battling on the biggest arenas worldwide, the Swiss and the Spaniard have had 40 official encounters so far, nine of those in Major finals that were the tennis season's highlights between 2006-2011. Their incredible duels at Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the Australian Open have drawn many youngsters into tennis over the years, with all of them dreaming about reaching that level one day and following the champions' path. One of those youngsters was Alex de Minaur, a super talented Aussie who claimed three ATP titles in 2019 to lead his generation. The Sydney native who lives in Alicante was mesmerized while watching great champions in action, deciding to be a tennis player at a young age and making the right decision.

Starting from outside the top-200, de Minaur scored 28 wins in 2018 to finish on the verge of the top-30.

In the season behind us, Alex presented his full talent and abilities, scoring 41 wins and cracking the top-20 in the closing stages after three ATP trophies in Sydney, Atlanta and Zhuhai. The Aussie grabbed three singles wins at the Davis Cup Finals in December, preparing for a strong start of 2020 campaign. Alex was a member of the Australian ATP Cup squad, beating Alexander Zverev and Denis Shapovalov before experiencing tough losses to Daniel Evans and Rafael Nadal. With an abdominal tear injury that bothered him already at the ATP Cup, the youngster had to skip the Australian Open, staying away from the court until Acapulco. There, he lost to Miomir Kecmanovic in the first round, not playing official matches ever since due to the coronavirus. 

"I reckon as soon as I competed for the first time when I was eight years old, I wanted to be a tennis player. I enjoyed it so much and since then, I've just tried to play and improve as much as I could. I'm fortunate enough to be in the situation where I am playing with all these guys I grew up watching. Whenever there was a Roger Federer - Rafael Nadal Grand Slam final, those were the matches I would watch on repeat, nonstop. Those encounters gave me the hunger and drive to achieve my dreams as a tennis player and to try and keep improving to hopefully one day be in that situation."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2YT6zdB