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Crowd erupts after epic Demon effort | 00:48
Alex de Minaur presents as an amiable Australian but there is an element of steel to the “Demon” born from the competitive fire that rages within him.
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When the world No.8 arrived at Roland Garros for his opening round match eight months ago, the amiable Australian had a message that he wanted to send to an emerging pro.
His rival was Alex Michelsen, the powerful and extremely talented American he will play at Melbourne Park on Monday for a spot in the Australian Open quarterfinals.
And revenge was on his mind, with good reason. The world No.8 is a proud man but a few months earlier he lowered his colours in ignominious fashion in a rare poor showing.
His then teenaged-rival was understandably delighted after blitzing the Aussie 6-4 6-1 in Acapulco in Mexico.
“(The goal was to) go out there and play as best you can, see what happens,” Michelsen said on Saturday.
“I went out there and didn’t miss a ball for an hour and a half, or however long that match went. I couldn’t miss. I was playing way above my level at the time.
“My level was here, and I was playing way up there. It’s always nice when that happens. It’s pretty rare. That’s what happened last time. (I) just couldn’t miss a ball, I feel like.”
But there was a caveat that needed to be applied to the result.
A couple of days earlier de Minaur had fallen to reigning Australian Open champion Jannik Sinner in the final in Rotterdam after a stellar week where he defeated Seb Korda, David Goffin, Andrey Rublev and Grigor Dimitrov.
The transition from Europe to Mexico, and from the middle of winter to the warmer climate, left the Sydneysider vulnerable and he was beaten up on the court by Michelsen.
If revenge is a dish best served cold, the 25-year-old had a few months to stew on that defeat and was determined to right what he considered a wrong when he played Michelsen.
“It was quite a quick turnaround, so I probably wasn’t quite ready to play that match, but I was definitely ready today,” he told a couple of Aussie journalists in Paris afterwards.
De Minaur’s response was savage. In less than two hours, he whipped the American for the loss of three games in one of the most lop-sided victories of his career. This was a thrashing.
And the American effectively lost his mind on the court in an extremely lopsided match.
His childish tantrum in the final set even drew derision from Nick Kyrgios, who is no stranger to losing his temper on the court.
A warning. The lesson de Minaur delivered in Paris was on clay on a particularly chilly day. Michelsen is a far better player than that and far more comfortable on hard courts.
Coached by former US Open semifinalist Robby Ginepri, the Next Gen Finals qualifier is a powerful all-court player who has knocked out three-time major finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas and dual-grand slam semi-finalist Karen Khachanov already in Melbourne.
“He’s been playing really well,” de Minaur said.
“He’s a dangerous opponent with a lot of confidence now. He’s taken some big scalps this week, so (I have to be) ready for a battle.
“He’s going to go out there with no fear. I’m going to do my best to make it difficult for him.”
HOW DEMON WON OVER THE DJOKER
Similarly to Michelsen, de Minaur knows what it is like to be on the receiving end of a hammering from a rival seeking redress against someone who irked them.
It is now three years since the 25-year-old, who is the first Australian since Phil Dent in the 1980s to reach the Rd of 16 in their home major for four straight years, was thrashed by Novak Djokovic in a fourth round mismatch on Rod Laver Arena.
Djokovic had been irritated by the Aussies comments related to vaccine mandates in tennis and delivered a lesson, but the 10-time Australian Open is now an admirer.
“(He has made) terrific improvement. I think his serve (has) become a big weapon. Maybe it wasn’t before,” Djokovic said.
“He was always fast, so he kept that … speed on the court. And I think he’s coming into (the net and) he’s approaching much more than he used to do.
“We all know how good he’s defending, but his offence has improved a lot. His court positioning has improved. It’s not a surprise that he ended up in the top 10 last season in his best season yet.
“I think we’re going to see … great things from Alex in this tournament. I have watched him play a few matches and the level is great. He’s playing really well.”
Those comments were made prior to de Minaur’s clash with Francisco Cerundolo.
Even the Aussie would have queried the accuracy of the assessment as he struggled for anywhere near his best against the 31st seed, who ran him ragged for nearly two hours.
The world No.8, who will bid to make the quarterfinals at the Australian Open for the first time when he plays Michelsen, was unusually errant and double-faulted on big points.
But he said afterwards that there is a beauty in managing to pull through when below par, with the Aussie turning his fortunes around after making a superb reflex volley at 5-6 in the second set.
In an interesting concession, de Minaur said it was the first time he had felt the pressure associated with delivering at home, which is a sign he has significant expectations.
“I feel like I learned a lot. I mean, looking back at this, I reckon this is probably the first match that I’ve played here in Oz where I’ve felt, like today, that I didn’t feel comfortable,” he said.
“I felt all of a sudden (there was) a little bit of pressure playing (and) I didn’t know what to do. (But) I just told myself … to go out there and compete.
“A part of me knew that at some point there was always going to be always a match where pressure was going to be there and the nerves were going to be there, (that the) kind of the expectation was going to be there. I knew it was going to be a part of it. I just told myself to go out there, compete.
“Geez, I’d rather win ugly any day over losing pretty, right? Ultimately I lived to fight another day. My next one I’ll make sure I bring a better level.”
And as for the compliment from the most successful man in tennis history?
“Ultimately when you hear any compliments coming from someone like Novak, who’s virtually perfect in every aspect of his game, it’s obviously very nice to hear,” he said.
“I always will appreciate it because you put in the work with your team behind closed scenes. But it’s always good that other players in the locker room are noticing, right? It means you’re doing something right. That’s a great feeling.”
BIG-NAME AUSSIE JUNIORS MAKE STRONG START
Standing on a balcony overlooking Melbourne Park as the sun set on Saturday, Emerson Jones was all smiles after securing an opening round win in the girls’ singles.
At the start of the week Jones received a lesson on the gulf between junior stardom and the very best players in the world when she was beaten 6-1 6-1 by 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in her Australian Open debut.
The outing followed a promising week in the Adelaide International where the Gold Coast teenager clinched a first round win and pushed world No.9 Daria Kasatkina.
A finalist in the girls’ singles at Melbourne Park last week, the world’s top-ranked junior started her campaign in promising fashion with a 6-3 6-3 triumph over Anastasia Lizunova.
Jones said she was initially upset by the manner of her defeat against Rybakina, a former Australian Open finalist who progressed to the last 16 with a 6-3 6-4 win over Dayana Yastremska on Saturday after receiving medical treatment in the second set.
But on reflecting over the next couple of days, she was able to put the result into context.
“I was pretty bummed about my match against Elena,” she said.
“It was just annoying because I wasn’t really in the match, but then looking at all the girls she’s played, I didn’t really do a bad job. So I feel a bit better about that.
“Obviously it gives me a lot of confidence to go into the juniors knowing that she’s the top level, and I know what it’s like now.”
Jones was not the only high-profile junior in action on Saturday, with a near-capacity crowd enjoying a warm Melbourne evening to watch Cruz Hewitt in action on Court 3.
Twenty years after his dad Lleyton Hewitt was beaten in the Australian Open final by Marat Safin, his son was too strong for South Korean Moo Been Kim in the first round, 6-3 6-3.
LOVE WINS
It was also 20 years ago when a junior prodigy expected to make massive strides in men’s tennis made his debut at Melbourne Park with a four set win over Robby Ginepri, who is now coaching Michelsen, Alex de Minaur’s next opponent at Melbourne Park.
Gael Monfils arrived on the back of a stellar year at junior level in grand slams, with the Frenchman winning the Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon before Andy Murray snared the US Open boys’ singles.
It was the best year in junior singles since Swedish great Stefan Edberg completed the boys’ grand slam in 1983.
The buzz around Monfils was massive and the athleticism he displayed on his first visit to Melbourne Park demonstrated he was a supreme talent.
It seemed the future of tennis had arrived. And he remains a superb athlete, quipping on Saturday that he thinks “I’m the best athlete at 38 years old on the tour, yes. That for sure.”
But similarly to several other elite talents, Monfils had the misfortune of arriving in the era of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, who has won all 20 outings against him.
But he has enjoyed a stellar career and, aside from semi-finals appearances at Roland Garros in 2008 and the US Open in 2016, he has peaked at No.6 and won 13 titles.
The most recent of those successes came last week in Auckland and at the age of 38, Monfils still has what it takes to rattle the best and pulled off a major upset on Saturday.
Pitted against last year’s US Open finalist Taylor Fritz, the mercurial Monfils produced a masterclass, mixing pace and rhythm, touch and power to win 3-6 7 -5 7-6 (1) 6-4.
In a stellar day for the Monfils family, he returned to Margaret Court Arena to watch his wife Elina Svitolina upset Wimbledon and Roland Garros finalist Jasmine Paolini 2-6 6-4 6-0.
Monfils, who celebrated his success with an on-court dance that has gone viral online, said he was delighted to be expressing “his joy” as one of the grand veterans of the tour.
But Monfils, who faces exciting American Ben Shelton next, also put into context what is important to him, with the prospect of pulling off a major miracle far from the top of his list of priorities.
“To be honest with you, (it) is not even a dream to win the tournament. My dream is to be old and with a lot of kids and healthy,” he said.
“My dream is to have an unbelievable family. Tennis is cool. Of course, you want to have a goal, dream, whatever. But my dream is out there (with my family).”
