Alex de Minaur reveals he ‘looks forward to the clay season more’ every year
Alex de Minaur has made a positive start to the clay court season, with the Australian revealing that he now has more belief on the surface after progressing to the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters for the first time in his career.
De Minaur beat former champion Stan Wawrinka, 6-3 6-0, in the first round in Monte Carlo with the match lasting just over an hour.
And the world No.11 reflected on his victory after the match, “My attitude was important. I did not play my best tennis to come out with on the first match on clay. So I stayed tough, stayed solid, I played tough when I needed to and I found my way into the match and I started playing better and better.”
Since turning professional in 2015, De Minaur has won eight titles on the main ATP Tour, but none of these have come on clay courts.
De Minaur, who reps the the ASICS Solution Speed FF3’s, has also never reached a final on the dirt and has won less than 50% of his tour-level matches on the surface.
Despite this, the 25-year-old appears optimistic about his hopes on the surface this year, “I think with every year of experience I look forward to the clay season even more.
“I look at it in a way that there is no reason I can’t get good results. In the past, maybe mentally I was not really ready to tell myself I was going to be good on the clay. That, plus I put on a little bit of weight, put on a bit of muscle.”
De Minaur continued his improved form on clay in the second round, fighting back after losing the first set to beat world No.26 Tallon Griekspoor.
He will now play compatriot Alexei Popyrin, who knocked out defending champion Andrey Rublev, with both players looking to reach their first clay Masters 1000 quarter-final.
Alex de Minaur and ASICS
De Minaur wears ASICS Solution Speed FF3 trainers, which are the latest version of the Japanese performance brand’s specialist tennis shoe designed for quick players who want help turning defence into attack. You can learn more about the third version of the Solution Speed from this recent Tennishead review which includes a play-test video.
The latest installment of the Solution Speed collection has been developed with ‘advanced 3D modeling and ASICS’ traditional Japanese craftsmanship, the PRECISION-SOLE™ provides a better combination of grip and flexibility on the tennis court – essential requirements of the fast, all-court player’. The Solution Speed FF3 also benefits from woven mesh, enabling players to have ‘a lighter and more comfortable experience’. ASICS continuous efforts to improve mean this fast shoe is now even faster for the rapid players like De Minaur, thanks to the ‘updated SPEEDTRUSS™ technology that improves flexibility and speed for a split-second head start’.
Not only do the ASICS Solution Speed FF3 trainers have many benefits to the on-court game, but they are also more beneficial for the environment. The Solution Speed FF™ 3 is ‘the first tennis shoe in the industry to include the transparency logo reporting on total CO₂ emissions for every pair of shoes created, a step in lowering total emissions in the value chain for a brighter tomorrow’.
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