Local tennis chiefs are giving the youngest Australian man at the French Open every chance of making the biggest impact.
Alex de Minaur has been granted a wildcard into the main draw at Roland Garros after making a huge splash during the Australian summer.
Unlike previous Australian prodigies, he’s right at home on the dirt.
De Minaur, 19, has spent much of his childhood in Spain, where he’s trained on his favourite surface of clay extensively.
Couple that with his record of beating eight top-100 players this year and you can understand why Tennis Australia (TA) chief Craig Tiley is enthusiastic.
“It’s exciting to see his progression,” he told AAP.
“We are excited about him because his attitude is fantastic.
“His game will grow into clay and he’s got Lleyton (Hewitt) by his side, who better?”
Ken Rosewall – who, on the 50th anniversary of his 1968 French Open win will present the trophy to the victorious male – was also glowing in his praise for de Minaur, calling him “the next one” off the production line of Australian talents.
“He’s a good chance of winning majors, especially on clay. He’s good on most surfaces,” Rosewall said.
This weekend’s draw will be crucial for de Minaur.
Without a shot of winning the tournament – with resurgent clay-court king Rafael Nadal at unbackable odds to win an unprecented 11th French Open title – the teenager will want to make an impact in the early rounds to show progress from last year’s first-round exit on debut.
“He’s the kind of player that can surprise and top players won’t want to see him in the draw,” Tiley said of de Minaur.
“He can cause upsets.”
De Minaur (world No.106) is joined by Nick Kyrgios (23), John Millman (58), Matt Ebden (73), Jordan Thompson (85) and James Duckworth (105) in the main draw.
Three Australians – Bernard Tomic, Thanasi Kokkinakis and Akira Santillan – have made it into the second round of qualifying in their bids to enter the main draw.
Tiley said Hewitt and TA’s head of performance Wally Masur made the decision to give de Minaur the Australian reciprocal wildcard into the main draw ahead of Kokkinakis.
“It was a combination of who’s 100 per cent healthy, who’s going in with the best record, and I trust their decision from the coalface, on the ground,” he said.
