Alex de Minaur has offered up some insight into his off-season preparations, as he admits he is looking for the progression he will need to challenge Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in 2026.
The world No 7 has just concluded his most successful season, as he maintained his position in the top 10 of the ATP Rankings and qualified for the ATP Finals in Turin, where he reached the semi-finals.
He concluded his year by securing a huge cash windfall when he won the UTS Grand Final in London and now he is taking a deep dive into his off-season preparation ahead of his latest challenge in front of his home fans at the Australian Open next month.
Speaking to former British No 1 Greg Rusedski in the opening episode of his new podcast Off Court with Greg, De Minaur opened up on the kind of preparations he will be putting in over the next few weeks before his season gets underway back home in Australia.
“The ultimate goals in men’s tennis are to try and reach those two players now. They have been dominating the sport for the last couple of year,” De Minaur told Rusedski.
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“I am in pre-season now and I’m just getting ready. We have got certain areas that are quite technical that I want to work on an improve.
“The serve is always a work in progress. That is something I would put a lot of hours into.
“I am also looking to put a bit of speed on my average rally ball. We are seeing with Carlos and Jannik that their average rally ball speed is extremely high so we are working to get to that.
“We probably have one session the morning which is drills with another player and then you go back out and try and work on tweaks with your coach.
“This is the only time when we have time to work on things, so this is valuable to what we hope to do next year.”
Russian star Andrey Rublev also spoke to Rusedski for his new podcast, as he revealed his coach Marat Safin is ‘killing’ him as he counts down to the 2026 season.
Andrey Rublev (@UTSTour)
“For me, it’s crazy because now with Marat and members of my team, they are killing me,” said Rublev.
“I can’t remember another year when they have done this to me. It is fitness to begin with for two and a half hours. Then it is tennis for two hours and he is killing me.
“No mistakes from the baseline, high intensity from the baseline until you make it. This push is all for me. It is always about yourself.”
The chasing pack need to find a way to get closer to Alcaraz and Sinner at the top of the men’s game, with De Minaur and Rublev using this month of the off season to try and find clues to beat the two big giants of men’s tennis.