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Alex De Minaur

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Thoughts on Alex De Minaur forced to pull out from Wimbledon due to a hip injury with Novak Djokovic now through to the another semi-final now via walkover

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We thought we all have woken up this morning hoping Alex De Minaur has played in another grand slam Quarter-Final this time on the grass courts at Wimbledon, even if it means taking on Novak Djokovic. However, a hip injury stopped him from taking part unfortunately where he limped towards the end the other day v Arthur Fils in the R16, and that is going to take some time to recover at this stage. With that being said, Djokovic will go straight to the semis against 25th seed Italian Lorenzo Musetti – an opponent De Minaur would’ve like to face had he took part & win that upset.

It’s a bummer that he couldn’t bring himself to Centre Court just hours before his next scheduled match, having endured an excellent grand slam campaign so far this year. We know that recovery time means he will be out for the Olympics by representing the Australian Olympic Team, but you never know if he can recover in time for the US Open that will begin in late August-early September. If not, another good Davis Cup run followed by homecoming return in January would be the perfect chance for De Minaur to finally make such a big impact like Ash Barty.

For now, we wish De Minaur a speedy recovery while Wimbledon will continue with the semis tonight. It will begin with back-to-back women’s singles matches that will follow the same with the men’s singles matches throughout Friday night & overnight Saturday morning.

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Alexander Zverev’s impressive Roland Garros record on clay saw the Quarter-Final elimination of Alex De Minaur in straight sets at Court Phillipe Chatrier

by Sports Benches

Alex De Minaur’s breakthrough run on clay at the 2024 Roland Garros has come to an end this morning after he was defeated by World No.5 German Alexander Zverev in straight sets (6-4, 7-6 with 7-5 tie & 6-4). 

This was De Minaur’s 2nd grand slam quarter-finals appearance since the 2020 US Open with Zverev now off to another major semi-final on tomorrow v Casper Ruud from Norway, who got the walk over berth by default following Novak Djokovic’s withdrawal due to a knee injury.

Despite the knockout last 8 elimination, this is the best De Minaur has produced on-court having got away with an easy start in the first two rounds followed by some really good fightbacks that led to some terrific upsets along the way including Jan Lennard-Struff and Daniil Medvedev – even though he was a set down from the beginning. We saw some of his terrific class when he was so close earlier on and also during the 2nd set in a bid to turn things around but unfortunately just not quiet enough as we hoped for where he was out & done after the 3rd set.

Let’s hope he can keep on going on top of his Roland Garros breakthrough by being in the second week all the time that could hopefully see him challenge in the semis and even the singles finals sooner rather than later. It would mean a lot to the tennis world and the Aussie sporting fans once he comes back at Melbourne Park for the next Australian Open edition in January.

Looking at Zverev, he’s the one that holds the cards who knows a lot about this surface more than De Minaur. He worked his way really well one at a time before the German was able to speed his way towards the finish line with little to no strings attached. We all know how good he is having played in a bunch of knockout grand slam matches before including the last three Roland Garros editions. But he’s never won a Final before as Zverev only made it once back in 2020 at the US Open where he lost to the now retired Austrian Dominic Thiem in a long five-set contest.

With Djokovic now out due to injury, is he really the next man to be known as The King of Clay? Time will tell soon enough. We also don’t forget that he was the defending Olympic Tennis gold medalist too during the COVID-postponed Tokyo 2020 Summer Games three years ago.

Now the women’s singles semi-finals will take place later tonight and into the early hours of Friday morning at midnight and the same will follow with the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday night and early Saturday morning. It all takes place at the one & only Court Phillipe Chatrier arena.

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Tennis, Alex De Minaur def. Matteo Arnaldi in straight sets as his Italian affair continues with Fabio Cobolli for the 3rd Round

by Sports Benches

Great to see our Aussie own Alex De Minaur advance into the third round after following straight sets win (6-3, 6-0, 6-3) earlier in the afternoon v Italian Matteo Analdi. He might have been not far behind from the beginning but the Demon has worked his way up with some excellent challenged that reflected his natural game. The first set was there before he too good unchallenged in the 2nd set where De Minaur took his time well towards the end with the win after just two hours of play at Rod Laver Arena. His next opponent will be another Italian in 21-year-old Fabio Cobolli who just defeated Pavel Kotov out of a four-set contest at Court 6 (5-7, 3-6, 7-5 & 2-6). Meanwhile, Arnaldi may have put up a great fight on occasions but his time is now up after a few days at Melbourne Park with the straight sets loss. He started the opening game well before doing the best he can to stay in the fight during the 3rd set. However, he couldn’t bridge the upper half form where Arnaldi just couldn’t keep up with De Minaur that saw him being left out through every set of this match. He had a great career moment off the back end of last year such as the fourth round at the US Open as well as the Davis Cup trophy for his country, but there’s still some work to do if wants to be good as Jannik Sinner next time when it comes to the next few grand slams throughout 2024.

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Tennis: Australia’s 2024 United Cup campaign has come to a close as their semi opponents Germany have eventually swooped the trophy v Poland in Sydney

by Sports Benches

Oh so close but what a run though by the Aussies after they were unfortunately eliminated from the United Cup semi-finals in the early hours of Sunday morning by Germany, having lost the mixed deciding doubles match 1-2.

Ajla Tomjlanovic fired off really well in the first set, but couldn’t find a way to kick on and hold Angelique Kerber back who was amazing from the set down to bring home a two-set win at the tiebreak (6-4, 2-6 & 6-7 – 7-9 tie). Meanwhile, Alex De Minaur gave the home fans so much hope to keep that run alive. He too bounced back from that close opening set loss with the win v Alexander Zverev (5-7, 6-3, 6-4) to level the semi-final series at 1-1 for Australia where his individual brilliance on the court will see him being ranked World No.10 in the ATP ladder next week. Let’s hope he can have the best Australian Open campaign yet starting next Sunday.

The tables have then turned on Storm Hunter & Matt Ebden to bring it home against Zverev again & Laura Siegemund for a spot to face Poland in the Final who defeated France the other day in a 3-0 whitewash. Now this was such an unreal deciding mixed doubles tie to watch, even though it did go past midnight. They all won each set in the first two (Germany in Stage 1 & Australia in Stage 2) before it went all the way through the best of 10 as Zverev’s decision to stay on has paid off for Germany that broke the hearts of the Aussie team & their fans itself on home turf at Ken Rosewall Arena. The final score was 6-2 – 2-7 tie, 7-6 – 7-2 tie & 13-15.

And speaking on Team Germany, they too have went on to become this year’s United Cup Champions after USA. Yes, these series of finals ties v Poland did end up going just past midnight but gotta say that Zverev has saved the day once again. 

Now He almost lost the match and even the final at one stage by Hubert Hurkacz after Iga Swiatek was too for Kerber (6-3, 6-0) earlier in the evening before he kept his country’s hopes alive going into the championship-winning doubles decider after three hours of play (7-6 with 7-3 tie, 6-7 with 6-8 tie & 4-6). Not only he and Siegmund has played really well right through the every end v Swiatek and Hurkacz again, but they too found both the finish line & the United Cup trophy via the final set tiebreak (4-6, 7-5 & 4-10).

All that’s left to come this week is the Adelaide International, Kooyong Classic, Women’s Hobart International & Men’s Auckland ASB Classic in New Zealand before the main event arrives for the Australian Open at Melbourne Park that will take 15 days beginning on Sunday.

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Tennis: 2024 Australia United Cup team performance in Perth review ahead of the 2nd semi-final this Saturday in Sydney 

by Sports Benches

Well, Australia has done extremely well so far despite the opening tie loss v Great Britain last week (29th December). But we got our strong doubles pair of Storm Hunter & Matt Ebden who continued to give us hope all along. Speaking of hope/luck, things ended up our way after USA defeated Great Britain on the 31st December before the Aussies got away on top of Group C a few days back also with the help of Hunter/Ebden thanks to a deciding doubles match win also v USA.

There’s one more match to settle though before the chance to fly into Sydney for the remaining knockout rounds (semi-final & final) this weekend when it comes to the Quarter-Final & that was a tough one to look out beforehand last night v Serbia.

Fortunately, Alex De Minaur reigned supreme in the best of challenges v Novak Djokovic in straight sets while Ajla Tomjlanovic has secured their early bird flight ticket before Hunter & Ebden secured a 3-0 whitewash that sums up a brilliant way to wrap up their performances at the heart of WA in Perth. Now the Australian United Cup team is on their way to Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney now ahead of the 2nd semi-final tomorrow v Greece or Germany. They are both strong contenders alongside Poland now that the defending champs USA have been eliminated after they were unable to finish off as the best 2nd placed teams in the Perth group. Let’s hope our strong team performances (Davis Cup & Billie Jean Cup not last year’s run) off the back of 2023 will help them go one better towards winning that United Cup trophy on home soil by the end of this weekend.

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Matteo Arnaldi’s excellent 3rd set response v Alexei Popyrin & Jannik Sinner being too good for Alex De Minaur has secured Italy’s Davis Cup title since 1976

by Sports Benches

It’s not the day the Aussie Davis Cup Team wanted to bow out with another runner-up finish this time to Italy, but it was still a great run again nonetheless where they showed some fight by staying on right through the very end during Finals week in Malaga, Spain. We didn’t have a great start v Czech Republic but Alex De Minaur and the strong doubles pair of Matt Ebden & Max Purcell has turned things around from 0-1 to 2-1 that saw them live another day onto the semi-finals v Finland after they shockingly knocked last year’s champs Canada out of the tournament.

Yes, that semis performance was easily good enough without the need of a doubles match following a 2-0 whitewash win v Finland as the Aussies go through to the final for the second straight year. They needed that prestigious trophy so bad having last won it back in 2003 on home soil v Spain at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. But coming back again this time v the Italians after their big win in the other semi-final from Saturday v Serbia, we unfortunately fell short once again fair & square with a 2-0 loss where Italy set the benchmark higher ahead of everyone & they too deserve to win the Davis Cup Trophy for the second time since 1976.

Oh so close when Alexei Popyrin fought back from the opening set down but fair play to Matteo Arnaldi who responded really well to nail him down during the 3rd set drag race. And Jannik Sinner has unleashed his A-game in the 2nd singles tie after he blew Novak Djokovic away where Alex De Minaur just couldn’t grasp any of his weaknesses all along. If De Minaur or Popyrin won their own games, we could’ve seen our strong Doubles team back in the final tie decider to maybe outmuscle them towards the end there.

Italy has some excellent talent as they hope to see Sinner and/or Arnaldi go all the way in the next few grand slams starting with the annual Australian Open at Melbourne Park in January. Meanwhile, as said, Australia should keep on working that saw them work their way through to the big Davis Cup Final over the last two years. You never know as the Aussies can continue to be at their best when it comes to the World Cup of team Tennis & surely they will finally win back the Davis Cup next time around sooner rather than later.

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Australia fell short on their return to the Davis Cup Final by first-time Champions Canada but proud of fighting spirit & hard work does after a great 2022 of Tennis

by Sports Benches

It wasn’t Australia’s day today when they returned to the Davis Cup Final scene for the first time in 19 years that went way back to 2003 – where Australia last won their title for the 28th time on home soil v Spain. They came here with fighting spirit orchestrated by Lleyton Hewitt as Team Captain, having never gave up along the way after their wins beforehand v Netherlands (QF) & Croatia (Semis). 

However, we have to credit Canada with the breakthrough moment they deserve – especially when they have a bright & an elite young line-up. But we all have to move on as Australia has to keep building on the good work they’ve got right now, so they can come back again hopefully next year & go one better this time.

We’ll start with the first singles tie between Thanasi Kokkinakis v Denis Shapovalov where neither of them have yet to register a win so far in this year’s Davis Cup Finals, but one of them will do so in the end. It turns out to be Shapovalov who was too good for Kokkinakis in straight sets – 6-2, 6-4. For Kokkinakis, his first set spell was a lot to be desired. Although he did show some fight after break in a bid to stay in contention, but it still wasn’t enough to hold off towards a 3rd set decider.

Then we turn our attention to Alex De Minaur v Felix-Auger Alliasime in the next singles match – as the moment of truth has arrived if Australia will bring out a doubles rubber & go one better to retrieve the Davis Cup trophy – or will be Canada as first time winners 2-0? Let’s find out as this time it was a very competitive opening half spell in the 1st set by both players before Auger-Aliassime pulled off the other half easily, while De Minaur did the best he can to keep Australia in the race and lead into a 3rd set lifeline after the break. 

In the end though, Auger-Aliassime escaped a late threat from De Minaur that not only sealed another singles win in straight sets but also gifted Canada the Davis Cup trophy for the first time. The final score was 6-3, 6-4 – with no doubles match required following Canada’s 2-0 whitewash in the series final v Australia.

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Alex De Minaur & the doubles pair of Max Purcell & Jordan Thompson turned out to be Australia’s saviour in the semis v Croatia as they advanced into Sunday’s Davis Cup Final

by Sports Benches

Australia has done it as they have now punched their ticket for Sunday’s Davis Cup Final following their win in the Doubles decider v Croatia where they wrapped up 2-1 in this series. Their next opponent will either be Italy or Canada as these sides will battle it out in the other Semi-Final later tonight.

We’ll start off with Borna Coric & Thanasi Kokkinakis in the first singles match where both players battled so hard from the very start. However, it was Coric who narrowly escaped Kokkinakis with the opening set lead before he shut him completely in straight sets that gave Croatia a 1-0 headstart. The final score was 4-6, 3-6.

Then we turn our attention to Alex De Minaur v Marin Cilic in the second singles tie that will determine if it’s a Croatia 2-0 whitewash or a lifeline for Australia going into the 3rd & final doubles match. It’s safe to say that De Minaur have saved Australia from the brink of elimination at 1-1 apiece – where he was just too good for Cilic from start to finish – 6-2, 6-2.

And alright here’s the doubles deciding tie now where one of them will advance into Sunday’s Final v the winner of Semi-Final No.1 between Italy or Canada; It’s Max Purcell & Jordan Thompson v Nikola Metkic & Mate Pavic. Like we saw with the opening singles tie earlier on, this opening stage was really competitive by both teams before Croatia narrowly got away unscathed in the first set via tiebreaker. 

But not all hope is lost though from Australia when they never gave up with the rebound after the break that sets up a one-set shootout. In the end, it’s Australia who pulled off comfortably following a tight first half distance, as they have came from behind to close off a stunning 2-1 series win v Croatia. The final score was 6-7 (3-7 tiebreaker), 7-5, 6-4.

We loved the leadership Lleyton Hewitt orchestrated as Team Captain, as well as Purcell & Thompson’s celebration & De Minaur’s roar both on-court & from the crowd. Let’s see if they can go all the way & lift this historic trophy for the first time in 19 years, as Australia want to be an elite challenger again for many years to come.

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Australia ready to go one better in the Davis Cup semi-finals v Croatia after they wrapped a 2-0 clean sweep yesterday v Netherlands

by Sports Benches

It’s been a great start to Australia’s run so far in the 2022 Davis Cup Finals after they completed a 2-0 clean sweep yesterday v Netherlands in the Quarter-Finals at the Martin Carpena Arena in Malaga, Spain.

Australia have now moved onto the semi finals for the first time since 2017 when they fell short to Belgium by 3-2, as they will take on Croatia on Saturday AM Australian time in a bid to secure a spot for Sunday’s big Final v winner of Semi-Final No.1 which could be either Italy, USA, Germany or Canada. 

In the first match, Jordan Thompson and Tallon Griekspoor always battled side-by-side each other to stay in this fight, with Griekspoor taking out the opening set lead before Thompson fought back at 1-1 apiece following the 2nd set that leads into a 3rd set tiebreaker. And Thompson executed it beautifully towards a comfortable end to this tie, especially in this last half run from 3-2. The final score was 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, with Australia leading the Netherlands 1-0.

Then we move onto the next singles game between Alex De Minaur v Botic Van De Zandschulp. Once again, it was another competitive fire off between the two players when the Dutchman narrowly held off De Minaur in the opening set. But then De Minaur made up some lost time immediately after the break with an easy 2nd set spell where the Australian have set up another 3rd set decider that could see them go one step closer towards the Semi-Finals. 

Although De Minaur didn’t find it easy at first when battling against a tough competitor like Van De Zandschulp, but he got away unscathed in such a close finish to this 2nd tie with another win for Australia. The final score was 7-5, 3-6, 4-6, as Australia have advanced into the semi-finals with no doubles match required after a 2-0 series Quarter-Final win.

Let’s see if they can go from strength to strength & hopefully book their first Main Event appearance for the first time in nearly two decades when Australia last won the 2003 Davis Cup on home soil at Rod Laver Arena.

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Wimbledon 2022: Two Aussies Ajla Tomljanovic and Nick Kyrgios on the hunt towards their potential semi-final singles’ berth on Day 10 today

by Sports Benches

We still have two Aussies standing in the last eight at Wimbledon that will begin in a few hours’ time – Nick Kyrgios and Ajla Tomljanovic. Yes, we’ve heard the unexpected news from off-court yesterday that Nick Kyrgios has been hit with a domestic violence assault charge over his ex-girlfriend from December last year. Nevertheless, he will still be playing v Cristian Garin from Chile in a bid to advance through to Friday’s Semis against – either American Taylor Fritz or Spaniard Rafa Nadal, as his next trial will take place next month at a court in Canberra.

We would’ve love to see an all-Australian QF with Kyrgios & Alex De Minaur that would guarantee an Aussie going into the semis but De Minaur’s great start after the first two sets was eventually hijacked by his upcoming opponent. Neither does Jason Kubler when he also advanced through to the last 16 before he was easily beaten by Fritz but then it would’ve been another hard next match anyway v one of the world’s best in Rafa.

While we won’t make any further comments about his off-court situation – especially when Kyrgios has such a big reputation there of being famous- but right now he will want to focus on the game if he still wants to be the last man standing going into the last four for Australia.

Meanwhile, we have Ajla Tomljanovic as our other female Aussie in the ladies’ singles last eight v 17th seed from Kazakhstan – Elena Rybakina. She has demonstrated brilliant fightback from the opening set down in her last two rounds v Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic) & Alize Cornet (France) respectively. Now she’s ready to unpack these strengths in order to eliminate Ryabakina, and hopefully advance into the semis tomorrow for a shot towards Saturday’s big final against – either Simona Halep from Romania or USA’s Amanda Anisimova.

Here we come as these two Aussies look set to make history on Day 10 at Wimbledon!

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