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Australian star Alex de Minaur admitted he refused to watch last year open from Australia after being forced to retire due to injury.
De Minaur had high hopes for his home Grand Slam tournament in 2020 after his leading role in the Australian ATP Cup squad, but he was sidelined due to abdominal injury.
Speaking after his impressive straight set victory (6-3 6-3 7-5) over Pablo Cuevas, de Minaur admitted that the pain of missing last year has taken him to greater heights this time around.
“It was a pretty awful moment,” he told Nine’s Jim Courier after the victory.
“It wasn’t ideal, I had to retire from my home Slam. I’m sure to say I was really looking forward to it, so I kind of had to turn everything off, social media. , I haven’t watched the tournament and I’m just a little hungrier.
“I have a little more fuel to drive that energy and now to be back here, I’m just soaking everything. Damn it feels good to be back here in Australia.”
The 21st seed from Australia barely went wrong with his three-set demolition job and came out of the gates shooting early.
Cuevas came off thanks to a huge tally of unforced errors that allowed de Minaur to keep the pace high and put the veteran on his back.
The Australian continued at the same pace in the second set, leading Courier to call the situation a “red alert” for Cuevas.
“It’s a red alert here for Cuevas,” said great American player Jim Courier in a comment.
“Alex just doesn’t miss out, he’s playing aggressively but just a really tight game tonight, very high level.”
Until the third round, de Minaur will have to draw on all his experience against veteran Italian Fabio Fognini.
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