Alex de Minaur reached the third round of Wimbledon with a four-set win over Arthur Cazaux.
Alex de Minaur has opened up about the challenges of juggling his Wimbledon aspirations with supporting his fiancee Katie Boulter, who suffered an early exit from the tournament. The British No. 2 was ousted in the second round by Solana Sierra, just a day before De Minaur advanced, creating a delicate situation for the couple.
Boulter initially seized the first set but ultimately succumbed to a 6-7, 6-2, 6-1 loss against the world No.101, a bitter pill to swallow given her world ranking of No.43 and status as the home favourite.
De Minaur faced potential upset when he dropped the first set to French qualifier Arthur Cazaux, but the 11th seed rallied to secure a 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 6-0 victory, sparing him from joining the ranks of early seeded casualties.
While pleased with his comeback, De Minaur acknowledged the strain Boulter’s defeat had on their dynamic. “There’s no real rule book that you can go on, but it’s not ideal. It’s not nice,” he confessed.
“I felt for Katie yesterday, and I’ve been in those positions myself. It’s not easy by any means to, yeah, forget about it. It’s something that kind of stays with you.
“On my side, you know, there’s obviously the part of doing my best to comfort her and try to be there for her the same way she is there for me through the good stuff and the bad stuff.
“It definitely does have a little bit of impact on yourself, and you’ve got to do your best to try and have a mental reset and kind of shift your focus towards yourself and realising that you do have a match the following day that you’ve got to prepare for, it’s not going to be an easy one, it’s going to be a battle.
“So yeah, it’s a lot of different aspects to deal with, which aren’t easy, and I think I can get better at, but that’s experience.”
De Minaur, who has been romantically linked with Boulter since 2020 and became engaged to her in December, expressed his delight at being embraced as an honorary Brit. “I’ve felt an amazing shift of support the last three or four years, and spending a lot more time here in the UK, it’s been quite special. It feels like I’m growing roots here,” he remarked.
He also shared: “As I said before, I’ve been fortunate enough to be around the grounds in Wimbledon when the tournament is not on. I’ve been able to train here. I’ve been able to be here with Katie.”
He further elaborated on his connection to the UK, saying: “So I’ve kind of been able to see the shift between it being a club into a Grand Slam. All those aspects all the way from spending some time together, being at home, knowing the location a lot better, it definitely gives you an overall better feeling as you go into this tournament.”