NEW YORK — There was quite a lot of speak of “reset” at this yr’s US Open. Coco Gauff used a toilet break to reset after a panic assault throughout her second-round assembly with Donna Vekic, whereas Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, who’ve endured troublesome Grand Slam seasons, each will now take a reset to get their careers again on monitor.
For Australia’s Alex De Minaur, who on Wednesday takes on Felix Auger-Aliassime as he tries to succeed in his first ever semifinal at a significant, resetting means altering routines. He’ll shave, change the place he would possibly go for dinner, change his sneakers, all in an effort to reset his thoughts and provides himself the very best likelihood to succeed.
Martina Navratilova and Maria Sharapova used to say that reaching the quarterfinals was when Grand Slam tournaments actually started. De Minaur says it is week two. “Second week of a slam is a very completely different dynamic,” De Minaur informed ESPN at Flushing Meadows. “It is the enterprise finish of the match. The way in which these tournaments work, you type of know that it is a lengthy journey, so it is good to have somewhat little bit of a psychological reset, have these short-term targets after which it is an entire new match. That is when you already know not that far-off from enjoying for the large title.”
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After all, there’s even a little bit of routine in De Minaur’s change of routines. “I all the time shave earlier than the match after which each time I get into the brand new week, I shave once more,” the No. 8 seed stated. “It is my manner of mentally resetting. I am going to have these little issues that I am tweaking. I will be altering sneakers, I am going to have some completely different gear. It simply looks like that is now go-time, and that is the place I wish to be.”
A Grand Slam occasion in week two is a really completely different place than it’s in week one. After the hustle and bustle of the primary few days, when 128 matches are performed throughout the lads’s and girls’s occasion, every part thins out within the second week. Locker rooms are emptier. The dynamic adjustments. It is one thing gamers need to get used to.
“It’s fairly completely different in that sense, the entire ambiance feels somewhat bit completely different,” De Minaur stated. “There’s quite a bit much less gamers. There’s not that many singles gamers left. It is extra the doubles gamers. The juniors begin. It is a very completely different place.”
One of many hardest employees on tour, and maybe the quickest mover on a tennis courtroom, De Minaur has been one of the crucial constant gamers for a number of years now, all the time looking for one thing further to make the large breakthrough, including energy to his serve and extra pop on his forehand. A fixture within the final 16 at Slams, he rebounded from an early loss on the French Open to succeed in the fourth spherical at Wimbledon.
At this yr’s US Open, he’s into the final eight having solely dropped one set — the primary Australian man to make back-to-back quarterfinals on the US Open since Lleyton Hewitt, who made seven in a row from 2000 to 2006, and received the title in 2001.
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It has been 5 years since De Minaur reached the final eight at a significant for the primary time, dropping to Dominic Thiem, the eventual champion, on the US Open in 2020. Alexander Zverev stopped him on the French Open final yr, he needed to withdraw via damage earlier than a deliberate assembly with Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, and was nonetheless effectively wanting full health when he went out to Jack Draper finally yr’s US Open. In Australia, at the beginning of 2025 he discovered Jannik Sinner far too sturdy.
De Minaur’s match with Auger-Aliassime would be the first time he is been the favourite, no less than on paper, to succeed in the semis.
That stated, the Canadian has been enjoying excellent tennis over the previous week, knocking out third seed Zverev and following it up with a hard-fought win over Andrey Rublev. De Minaur trails 2-1 of their head-to-heads, too, and is aware of he’ll have to discover a approach to cease Auger-Aliassime from chopping free, appreciating that when he is on his recreation, he is arduous to beat.
“This week he is clearly enjoying some unbelievable tennis, and he is bought quite a lot of weapons,” De Minaur stated. “He is bought an excellent serve. He is bought an excellent forehand. He seems to dictate at any time when he can. In that match-up for me it is all about making an attempt to disrupt his rhythm, not give him the possibility to bully me on the courtroom. I do my greatest to counter and dictate at any time when I can and in the end, I do know what I am getting myself into. He is bought moments on the courtroom the place he is unbeatable, after which there’s moments that he’ll provide you with a few errors, proper? For me it is about weathering the storm. These are the matches I wish to be enjoying in. For me it is about going for it … and I am very excited for it.”
And whereas profitable on dwelling soil on the Australian Open could be his final dream, De Minaur stated the US Open would just do properly. “At this stage, any Grand Slam, proper?” he stated. “That is the final word aim. I am not going to get choosy if I can solely get one. I will be very proud of whichever falls in my lap.”
