MUBADALA DC OPEN

July 26, 2026

Alex De Minaur

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Alex, welcome back to D.C. How has your season been so far in your opinion, and how energized are you feeling ahead of this tournament?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I'm very excited to be back here in D.C. after a little bit of a break. I think it's been great, because we obviously have a lot of year left to go. So the plan is to finish strong, and hopefully I can get started here and kind of start my, you know, American hard court swing off well here in D.C.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Congrats to you and Katie. I wanted to ask. I think all of us are wondering about the wedding and how you feel now as a married man?

ALEX de MINAUR: The wedding was great. It was everything we could have ever imagined. It was amazing to be able to kind of just be with close ones and family and friends and ultimately forget about tennis for a little while. Of course, we had a lot of fun.

But the way the season works, we're back to work, right? We're back to being tennis players. That being said, I don't think much has changed for me being married. I think same old-same old. I'm definitely very excited to kind of get going.

Q. Alex, I wasn't in your press conference at Wimbledon, I don't think, but just reading the transcript I was struck by just sort of how bleak or how sort of dark you let yourself get in those moments. Maybe a bit in Paris too after you lost that match. I'm curious for you, processing these losses that have been disappointing to you, what's that been like, and how much do you sort of allow yourself to look into the dark parts of it in order to pull out, or if that's something you want to do less of? It seemed like fairly intense things that you were describing then.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, look, I think what I've kind of let myself do, especially in the last couple of years, is be a lot more open to what I'm thinking. I believe that these are thoughts that go through everyone's minds, every athlete out there. They have some good moments and bad moments. More than anything, I've done a lot of these interviews when I'm still pretty raw and pretty fresh.

Obviously the first kind of thoughts that come into mind are those ones, but I generally feel good. I think it's been a great little kind of stop in the middle of the season where I've been able to kind of take a step back and kind of refresh and get a lot of energy to hopefully finish the year strong.

I think over the last couple of years I've definitely noticed that this part of the year, you know, from the clay, going onto the grass and finishing at Wimbledon, I found it very important for me to take some time off to kind of make sure that I can get back on the horse and finish the year strong.

And, look, I'm in a good place, right? I think you kind of get into a hole because you start to believe a lot of things, but realistically, where I am right now, I'm at a career high. I've just gotten married, life is good, and we're in beautiful D.C., so can't really complain.

Q. Those are things that a lot of players are thinking after losses, but how much has that helped you to be open, to be vulnerable? Because even as somebody that's been in a lot of press conferences, it seemed remarkable how honest you were willing to be in those moments.

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, look, I think it's part of, you know, what comes natural, right, in the moment. I'm definitely feeling a lot better. I'm feeling in a good place. I feel like everything is kind of clicking.

It's just with any athlete, you put a lot of pressure on yourself because you want to achieve certain things, you want to keep breaking new ground. One of the hardest things in sport is, as you get higher and higher, to constantly break new ground. It gets more and more difficult. So you feel like you're almost running up against a wall.

It's kind of finding different ways or tricking your own mind to believe that there's still more to achieve, and that's what I feel like. If I didn't feel like that, I probably wouldn't get frustrated at certain results. I feel like I've still got more to give. I'm excited for what's to come.

Q. You're the defending champion here. Had to get through a tough final against Alejandro last year. It was a nice moment that you had at the end of that match. Every tennis season, of course, different, but being back here, are there things that you think this week you'll be able to draw from last year's experience that will kind of propel you as you move through the draw?

ALEX de MINAUR: Yeah, I think one of the things I learned from last year is the conditions are not particularly easy, right? The ball is flying a fair bit. It's quite quick. It's very -- especially if you play during the day, it's very rare to find some of your best tennis, right?

You've got to be okay knowing that it might not be your best stuff, but a lot will do being there mentally and competing every point and trying to find a way to do certain things the right way. So I can definitely draw a lot from last year and learning kind of through those things.

Obviously the way it's all playing, it's amazing serving conditions, so if you can serve well, it's going to definitely put you in the right spots. So a lot of focus on that.

It's my first week back, right, so it's not too many expectations. At the moment I'm just out here enjoying getting back into the rhythm of things. I know I'm going to be building and getting better every single day.

Q. You've been asked a lot in your career, I'm sure, about Lleyton Hewitt. I want to ask you about Cruz. He is a set away from potentially reaching his first ATP main draw.

ALEX de MINAUR: He won the second?

Q. He did win the second. He rallied. He won in the tiebreak. They're in the third set. How long have you known him? What is that like for you to see him knocking on the door of this opportunity?

ALEX de MINAUR: Geez, I reckon probably maybe when he was 8 or 9, so I have known him for a very long time. It's great to see what he's been doing, especially as of late. I think he's doing the right things.

We both actually arrived here early, and we practiced the first couple of days together, so we've got some good reps in. So it's great to see him, you know, doing what he's doing. He's got a lot of weapons. He plays very free. He's going to be a dangerous player, for sure, and obviously I don't think he's too scared of the moment, which is something that's very important at a young age.

It's great to see him doing what he's doing, obviously having Lleyton in his corner, the way he's handling the pressure, the expectation, the eyeballs that he would have being Lleyton's son. He's a good kid, and he's definitely doing the right things. I wish him nothing but the best, and I'm sure we're going to have plenty of years playing together.