Álex de Miñaur crosses the path of Carlos Alcaraz again. A few days ago they played at the Conde de Godó, in Barcelona, and the Australian won 7-5 and 6-1. “In Barcelona I played a set and tennis-wise I was good. In the second it wasn’t possible,” said Rafa, who is still looking for sensations after the breaks due to injuries that have meant that he has barely been able to play in the last year and a half. “For me it is an opportunity to play against an opponent who gives me the very difficult things. He makes you play all the points, and at the moment I’m in that becomes more difficult. I am aware that to win these types of matches it takes time and physical effort in most points,” Nadal added in Madrid before the new duel with his compatriot.
The story of De Minaur
Because, yes, De Minaur competes with Australia, but before that he did it for Spain, when he was very young, and Spain wanted to “get him back”, but it was already impossible. Álex’s mother, Esther, is Spanish, and his father, Aníbal, is from Uruguay. He was born in Sydney, where they lived. Then they moved to Spain, to Alicante. Álex was five years old and already playing tennis, and in the Valencian town he joined his path with that of coach Adolfo Gutiérrez. The crisis destroyed the business that the tennis player’s parents had in Spain, but he was the number one in our country. He was still very small, but he stood out. And what happened then was explained by Álex’s own mother in “El Español”: “In 2011, Todd Woodbridge somehow found out that Álex had dual nationality and invited my son and Adolfo to Roland Garros to play with him. . Two minutes later he wrote me an email telling me to send it to Sydney, that the Australian federation would cover everything. Training, coaches, travel… At that time, my husband was in Sydney to see if the restaurant [su negocio australiano] It was viable, so we ended up moving to Australia. I didn’t want to, but we moved. Tennis is a very expensive sport and what happened was very frustrating. Álex was number one in his category and he also played differently, he was the only one who did different things. To put it plainly, it was sponsor meat. What did it have to be like in Australia? Well, that’s okay, I’ll go with the Australian flag to the Davis Cup. And her grandparents too, no matter how much it hurts them,” Esther wrote in 2018.
The attempts to recover it
Before, Miguel Díaz, the president of the Spanish Tennis Federation since 2017, went to visit her in Alicante together with Antonio Martínez Cascales, then vice president, Juan Carlos Ferrero’s mentor and who has also helped and sometimes trains Carlos Alcaraz in the Ferrero Tennis Academy, to try to convince her that her son play for Spain. There were two attempts. “But it was already impossible. Álex was playing for Spain until we returned to Australia. Her first tournaments, in lower categories, he played for Spain. My whole family is Spanish. For example, my parents were desperate for the boy to play for Spain. I know it’s a different directive now [Miguel Díaz acababa de llegar a la presidencia]”But the Spanish federation has arrived late, very late,” the player’s mother continued to explain in “El Español.”
A demon”
There was no chance and De Minaur competes under the “Aussie” flag in every tournament and in the Davis Cup. In fact, he has a 109 tattooed on his chest for being the 109th player to represent Australia in the legendary country and team competition. He is a very explosive tennis player, who has extraordinary legs and mobility, which is why they call him “demon” and who stands out especially in the backhand area. He is currently number eleven in the world, but this year 2024 he entered the “top 10” for the first time, even in February he was number nine in the ranking. He has won eight titles in his career, six ATP 250 and two ATP 500, or the same one twice, since in Acapulco he won in 2023 and repeated this course.
2024-04-27 09:03:24
#Álex #Miñaur #player #escaped #Spanish #tennis #Nadals #rival #Madrid
