Alex de Minaur’s hard-fought victory over a talented Hungarian in a Davis Cup dead rubber in December is being credited as the springboard to his strong summer.
The former world No.15 had lost 12 of his previous 16 matches before beating Marton Fucsovics 7-5 2-6 7-6 (7-2), with his mid-year Covid-19 diagnosis significantly hindered him.
Australia’s Davis Cup assistant coach and former professional player Jaymon Crabb witnessed de Minaur’s performance in that match and believes it was “the stepping stone”.
“Covid hits everyone differently, and he obviously got it right before the Olympics, which was a tough pill for him and he had to skip that,” Crabb told News Corp.
“I think the way he plays; he’s so physical out there that he needs to be 100 per cent fit and he needs to know he’s done the work off the court.
“With him not being able to do that for a few weeks; it took him a long time to get those miles back in the legs and he did struggle with that.
“He’s not used to feeling tired on the court, so it took him a while to get the fatigue out.”
Crabb saw up close the mental toll the Covid-impacted season had on all the Australian players, who spent up to 10 months away from home, travelling between quarantine bubbles to compete.
That’s partly why he’s been so impressed with how de Minaur has prepared for the new season and performed from the outset, including taking the top-10 scalp of Matteo Berrettini at the ATP Cup.
The 22-year-old has the chance to progress to the fourth round at the Australian Open for the first time on Saturday, when he faces Spanish veteran Pablo Andujar.
“Andujar is an experienced campaigner, so I’m sure he’ll have a few tricks up his sleeve, but that’s definitely a winnable match,” Crabb said.
“It’s a match that’s probably on Demon’s racquet; the way he’s moxjmtzywving and returning and serving.
“His serve has gone up a notch over the last 12 months, so I’m looking forward to seeing him work his way through that one, then onto bigger and better things.
“He’s a great kid to work with and I’m just really happy to see him do well – he deserves it.”
