Aussie tennis star Alex de Minaur reveals how he’s RUINING his Christmas Day as he chases glory at his home Grand Slam

A week after returning to Sydney, Christmas Day doesn’t sound like much fun for Alex de Minaur.

“Well, it’ll basically consist of me spending some time on the tennis court… and in the gym,” he explains matter-of-factly.

Same as normal, Alex?

“Always,” Australia’s best tennis player responds to AAP with a hint of a smile.

Is that a leaf out of the book of the great decathlete Daley Thompson, who used to imagine that on Christmas Day, while he was competing in the shot put, his fellow Olympic hopefuls would simply make fun of pudding?

“Well, it is,” he agrees, imagining that this gives him an extra edge over his rivals. “It won’t be long before we start competing again, so you can’t really have many days off, right?”

“There is no rest for the wicked. In the end, let’s just say that the fuel that drives me to be better, that hunger, trumps the feeling of needing a week off, two weeks off on vacation, and enjoying the holidays.

‘That’s just how I am. And the way I ended this year, I sat down with my team and said, ‘Okay, what do we need to improve? What do I need, in every aspect of my life, to be better next year?’

‘The way I see 2024, it was a year of breakthrough, 100 percent. I’ve played an incredible amount of tennis, reaching a sixth in my career and reaching the end-of-year finals for the first time, but I still think I can do more.

‘That’s what I ultimately want, that’s what I work so hard for. I’m one of those people who are never satisfied and I think in a way it has hurt me sometimes because I struggle to cherish the moment for themselves.

‘I’ve gotten a lot better at it, but at the same time I always want more. Never satisfied. That’s what all the training is for.’

That’s Minaur to a T. The uber-perfectionist, the workaholic who doesn’t cut corners.

Musing on his approach during an interview in London for a relatively meaningless exhibition-style event there at the end of his 2024 slog, he made it clear that he’s actually too competitive to just go through the motions.

Of course he won the whole thing.

Yes, he enjoyed a pre-Christmas party with his British tennis star girlfriend Katie Boulter and her family last week – but back on Australian soil his undivided focus is now on Mission Melbourne Park.

Three-time champion Mats Wilander told AAP in Paris last year that he believed the Australian Open would be De Minaur’s best chance to win a grand slam.

“Look, I would really like to have a big Australian Open,” says de Minaur when he hears this. ‘It’s my home slam, exactly where I would like to play my best tennis.

“As it stands now, this is my worst blow in terms of performance. I made it to the quarter-finals of every slam except Melbourne and had a brutal match against Andrey (Rublev in the fourth round), which could have gone either way and was definitely one of my big disappointments of the year.

‘But hopefully I can take everything I achieved this year and reach 2025 running. I would love nothing more than to play well in Australia, in front of my home fans, friends and family.”

And given the possible improvements he is considering with his team, does he feel he has finally overcome the pain of the hip injury that has plagued him since Wimbledon?

“I’m happy that I’m going in the right direction towards the start of the new season, hopefully pain-free,” he says.

‘And the great thing about it is that there are so many different categories in which I can still improve. On the pitch, we ultimately want to compete with the best in the world, right? And that’s Jannik (Sinner), you’ve got Carlitos (Alcaraz), you’ve got Novak (Djokovic), Sascha (Zverev), (Daniil) Medvedev, Rublev, all these guys, right?

“They all hit the ball really hard, so I’ll try to lift my average ball speed a little bit, I’ll also try to be a little more aggressive.

‘Try to get that bit stronger in the gym, so that I can deal with that. I can still get fitter, still get faster, get that one percent extra,

‘It’s not like you go from night to day. I’m going to get my improvement in my tennis in the one per centers, and hopefully my ranking will improve as well.”

De Minaur’s mission is unassailable and completely admirable.

Destroy an intestine, not fill his stomach, on Christmas Day?

“Isn’t that what you do it for?” he smiles.

‘Because at the end of the day, at the end of my career, I want to sit and chill on the couch, knowing that I did everything I could to be the best tennis player I can be.’