Australian number one Alex De Minaur has hailed his “very important” early season title in Turkey ahead of the blockbuster summer of tennis.
De Minaur, who is currently ranked 23 in the world, won the season-opening Antalya Open earlier this month before beginning 14 days of quarantine on his return to Melbourne.
The 21-year-old missed last year’s Australian Open due to an abdominal injury, but said the victory was perfect preparation for a year he and the rest of the tennis world hope will be a less interrupted than 2020.
“(The title win in Turkey was) huge,” De Minaur said on SEN Afternoons.
“I wanted to put 2020 in the rear-view mirror like probably everyone else and starting off 2021 with a win is very important to me.
“It shows I’ve started on a good step and this is where I want my year to be headed, I want 2021 to be everything 2020 wasn’t.”
As Australia’s number one ranked male tennis player, De Minaur and number two John Millman will be the country’s two representative in the ATP Cup at Melbourne Park next week.
Facing off against Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Greece’s Stefanos Tstistpas in the much-anticipated team event, De Minaur said there was no greater honour than having the privilege of representing your country.
“It’s an incredible privilege and any time I can represent the green and gold, I’m going to wear it with pride and there’s no greater honour,” he said.
“I’ve always been under the radar and I’m happy with that, I have more time to work on myself, my craft and my game and I guess people don’t see me coming so I don’t mind being in the shadows a bit.
“I’m grateful to be where I am, very happy with the work we’ve done and obviously there’s no greater honour than representing Australia so I’ll do that with pride and do it the best possible way I can.”
De Minaur will lead Australia's charge on the men’s side of the upcoming Australia Open and remained bullish about the rest of his fellow countrymen’s prospects in the first Slam of the year.
“I strongly believe we have a great group of guys out there and we’re pushing,” he said.
“We have Chris O’Connell, Marc Polmans and a couple of others who are close to pushing into the top 100, I think we have a great group of guys around and there’s great team camaraderie.
“I have learnt so much from all these players, they’ve taken me under their wings as a junior, especially as an orange boy during the Davis Cup (in previous years).
“It’s a great group of people to be around.”