Typifying the new age of tennis, young gun Alex de Minaur hopes to challenge for the sport’s biggest prizes well into his thirties.
De Minaur moved into the second round of the US Open on Monday with victory over Pierre-Hugues Herber before outlining his ambitions for the future.
Unlike the old days, when most stars put away their racquets and retired by 30, de Minaur wants to follow in the footsteps of modern-day greats Roger Federer, 38, Rafael Nadal, 33, Stan Wawrinka, 34, and 32-year-old world No.1 Novak Djokovic and play on and on.
The 20-year-old de Minaur sits third behind Stefanos Tsitsipas, 21, and teenage whiz Felix Auger-Aliassime in the 2019 Race to Milan, the ATP’s season-ending finals for next-gen challengers, and dreams of jousting for majors with the emerging stars for the next decade or more.
“At the moment we’ve got unbelievable ambassadors for our sport, but a new wave is sort of trying to knock on the door and slowly week in, week out we’re putting in some good results,” de Minaur said after downing Herbert 6-4 6-2 6-7 (6-8) 7-5.
“So, look, I’m excited for things to come. As part of a new generation of a lot of very talented and exciting players, that’s going to be fun to watch and fun to compete against for the next 15 years.”
De Minaur was made to sweat for more than three hours against Herbert, the Frenchman who Nick Kyrgios beat last year at Flushing Meadows after receiving a controversial mid-match pep talk from chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani.
“It’s never an easy match-up against Pierre so very happy with how things went,” de Minaur said.
De Minaur’s next match on Wednesday is against Chilean 31st seed Christan Garin, who needed five sets to get past American wildcard Chris Eubanks.
“He’s another quality opponent, very tough, very solid,” de Minaur said of Garin.
“Look, I’m happy to get through my first round and it’s going to be another incredibly tough match.
“But I’m feeling good, the body’s feeling good and I’m just pumped to be here.”