Later, the Aussie added that his team and fiancée Katie Boulter were key in navigating the complex emotions he was feeling.
Q. When did that making peace with yourself actually click in? Was it that night? Next morning? Did you have to be on your own completely? Even when you were in that ‘dark place’, did you reflect back on what you actually achieved this year? You’re second only at the moment now to Alcaraz for match wins, lead the tour with hard court wins. If you could, reflect on that.
ALEX de MINAUR: To be honest, I’m incredibly lucky with the support system that I have, the people I’ve got around me, every single one in my team, even Katie. They were able to, or they tried to, talk some sense into me and get me out of a very dark place.
Sometimes when you’re in that dark place, you make peace. You start to care less, right? Ultimately you can focus on other elements and not the results.
For the first time in a long time, I forgot about the what if’s, the results, what happens if I miss this shot, what happens if I lose this match. I just committed to the way I wanted to play from the first point to the last. A couple days ago I didn’t. That’s what hurt so much.
Today I knew that no matter what, I wanted to be proud of my decision making, my aggressive mindset, and I wanted to go out there and try to win the match.
