The legendary Ken Rosewall is watching on proudly as Alex de Minaur returns to the arena named in his honour for the United Cup semifinals.
6 January 2024 | Andrew Eichenholz
One of the stories of the United Cup has been Australia’s surge to the semi-finals, led by Alex de Minaur. The Australian thrilled his home fans by upsetting World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in Perth.
Now in Sydney, De Minaur will try to replicate his success inside Ken Rosewall Arena, which historically has been his favourite court. Its namesake, International Tennis Hall of Famer Ken Rosewall, has been impressed by De Minaur’s rise.
“Alex has all the necessary parts of the game that’s going to improve and he’s shown that certainly in the past 12 months,” Rosewall told ATPTour.com.
“His game has kind of come up to another level, with some good wins that he’s had more recently, and just how well he’s playing. The little bit of extra confidence that he’s put in his game to give him some more variation is certainly making him one of the new players and one of the strong players of the men’s circuit.”
De Minaur is No. 11 in the ATP Live Rankings and will crack the Top 10 if he defeats Alexander Zverev on Saturday evening.
“He deserves it because he’s worked hard and I think if he gets that high a ranking, if he doesn’t get it today or tomorrow it’s going to come soon enough because he is that good a player,” Rosewall said. “His gradual improvement is going to help him be one of the top players.”
One similarity De Minaur and Rosewall share is their stature. Rosewall was referred to as “Muscles” because of his lack of them. De Minaur stands 183 centimetres tall, but that has not stopped him from becoming one of the best players in the world.
“Size helps. I mean, there’s certainly parts of this game of tennis that it helps big players, 6’3″ or 6’5″, [like] service motions. It’s a great part of their game where they get many easy points because of their great serving motion,” Rosewall said. “But look, Alex’s serve is not weak by any stretch of the imagination. And I think he’s gained more confidence in his serving ability with the rest of his game.
“He’s a six-footer. He’s not small. The surface that most of the tournaments are played on now are high-bouncing surfaces. But Alex is that type of an athlete where he can move so well. Not that he has any out-standing weaknesses at…
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