How Tennis Star Alex de Minaur Is Using A Barbell To Climb The Rankings

Rising star Alex de Minaur is chasing next-level fitness – including a brawnier frame – to crack tennis’s top echelon

- Daniel Willams

When Alex de Minaur turns to the matter of his plans for the afternoon, you detect in his tone a mix of determination and dread. And no wonder. Shortly, he’ll board a flight from Melbourne to Brisbane, where he’ll tackle what he calls “a little bit of a track session” in oppressive heat.

“So, today we have a pyramid,” says the freshfaced de Minaur, the world No. 18 at time of writing. “I’ll run 500 metres, rest for 30 seconds. Then one kay, rest for 30 seconds. Then two kay, rest for 30. Then 1 kay, rest for 30.” There’s one more stage but the line cuts out momentarily and you don’t catch it, though presumably it’s another 500m effort. Before you can check, he’s moved on. “I’ll be going hard,” he says. “It’s going to be a bit of a brutal session.”

Watching de Minaur darting all over the courts of the world, combining hare-like speed with camel-like stamina, it would be easy to believe that his first love was the pursuit of fitness, and that the tennis caper came next. But not so.

“For me, it’s always been tennis first. And I must admit, growing up, the fitness side of things . . . it was probably the worst part of the job,” says de Minaur, who won three ATP events last year to crack the world’s top 20 and raise supporters’ hopes that this young warrior with the temperament of a seasoned campaigner has all the requisite qualities to rise to the top in the post-Federer Nadal-Djokovic triopoly – if not sooner.