“If you are playing an Aussie, be ready for a battle” – De Minaur on fighting spirit
The Australian lost the first set but bounced back to reach the Wimbledon third round
Alex de Minaur (Action Plus/PSNewz)
Alex de Minaur came back from a set down to beat Arthur Cazaux 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0, and reach the Wimbledon third round, following in the footsteps of compatriot Jordan Thompson, who battled through five sets against Vit Kopriva and then Benjamin Bonzi.
That determination, said De Minaur afterwards, is intrinsic to Australians.
“He might not play his best, he might not feel amazing, but something you can count on is him competing from the very first point to the last,” he said of Thompson. “That’s why he’s had some really good results in Grand Slams.
“Ultimately, showing what that Australian culture is, is that never say die attitude, never giving up, competing from the first point to the last. That’s what we, as Australians, want the standard to be and to show and to let the opponents from the rest of the world know that, hey, if you are playing an Aussie, be ready for a battle.”
De Minaur: I’m taking small wins
It was evident that De Minaur has also worked hard on his mindset after he lost his first-round match at Queen’s, as he explained to journalists: “Over the last couple of days, couple of weeks, my mentality is about taking small wins. Not worrying about kind of the result as a whole, but trying to focus a little bit more on small wins. I look at this match, and probably the old me would be, like, ‘I’m definitely not happy with the way I started this match. It’s not good enough. If I want to achieve certain results here, I need to lift my game.’
“But the way I’m looking at it is that I’m happy. I reset. I found my game. I battled through. There were some tough moments there which I pushed through.
“Ultimately, I’m here talking to you guys ready for another match and giving myself another
opportunity to come out and play some good tennis again.”
