He is known as “The Demon” but there is one woman who has tamed Australian tennis champ Alex de Minaur.
The world number six has opened up about his relationship with fiance Katie Boulter – crediting the British women’s number four tennis player with helping him stay grounded off the court.
“We both know what our priorities are,” de Minaur tells Body+Soul in an exclusive interview.
“We said this on day one of the relationship: we put our careers first.
“The great thing is we know what the other person is going through. We know those feelings, the deepest, darkest fears, and when we’re feeling great or not feeling good about ourselves. That’s where we can really help each other,” he said.
The couple met during the Covid pandemic in 2020 – bumping into each other while getting coffee at the same hotel they were both staying at – going Insta official with their relationship in March 2021.
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW IN BODY+SOUL HERE
Boulter gushed about de Minaur in an interview with UK tabloid The Standard in 2022, telling the paper “He’s so supportive of me in the job that I do and completely understands”.
“Not many people do,” Boulter said.
“To have that kind of connection where they know what you’re going through, they know the lows and highs, it does feel very comforting. I’m lucky to have him.”
With their respective tennis careers taking off, de Minaur – the current mens world number six – admitted supporting each other – even while performing at the same tournaments – is often tricky.
“There have been moments where I would’ve loved to come watch her, but I had to focus on my recovery,” he told Body+Soul. “And vice versa.”
“We don’t take the support for granted, but we also don’t make each other feel bad when we can’t be there,” de Minaur told the magazine.
“It’s never because we don’t want to be, it’s because it’s the smart thing to do for our careers.
“The same way she’d never want me to jeopardise my own career to support her, I’d never want her to jeopardise hers,” he said.
De Minaur was in the stands at the Australian Open last week when Boulter crashed out in the first round, after going down to 10th seed Belinda Bencic.
The 26-year-old revealed while the pair has finalised the wedding plans “we’re going to keep it quite close, quite private, and it’s going to be a great time”.
“But it’ll take some getting used to referring to Katie as the wife,” he tells Body+Soul.
Originally published as Alex de Minaur opens up on relationship with Katie Boulter