Alex de Minaur was one of the star players on day two for Team World at the Laver Cup in San Francisco.
De Minaur suffered disappointment at the Davis Cup, but has now returned to winning ways all the way from Sydney to San Francisco.
Playing in both singles and doubles, De Minaur helped Team World turn things around with just one day of the Laver Cup remaining.
De Minaur was cheered on by both his playing teammates and new Team World captain Andre Agassi, who has been noticeably vocal throughout his first experience of the Laver Cup.
What Andre Agassi told Alex de Minaur before his match with Alexander Zverev
De Minaur had lost eight of his 10 previous meetings against Alexander Zverev, but this did not appear to dent his confidence as he went on to beat the German, 6-1 6-4.
The Australian received a lot of support from both Agassi and his compatriot Pat Rafter, who is the Team World vice-captain.
In his post-match press conference after the match, De Minaur was asked about the specific things Agassi and Rafter advised him to do against Zverev.
De Minaur: “I mean, they gave me a pretty simple game plan. Andre told me not to miss a return. Pat told me…”
Rafter: “…I said nothing.”
De Minaur: “Pat told me not to miss a volley…I tried my best. No, it was honestly amazing to have both these guys on the bench and the whole week just being able to pick their brains and learn. I think it all kind of came together today, right?
“As I said, I’ve always been an open book in terms of getting information in, and I’m very happy that it all kind of came together and I was able to execute today on a very great game plan. As I said, I’ve always been an open book in terms of getting information in, and I’m very happy that it all kind of came together and I was able to execute today on a very great game plan.”
Later on in the press conference, De Minaur was asked to elaborate on the impact that both Agassi and Rafter have had on himself and the rest of Team Europe.
De Minaur gave a very in-depth answer, speaking about how he has enjoyed how vocal Agassi has been on the bench, and praising Rafter’s calming presence.
“For me, I had never met Andre before this whole event, right, so it was quite exciting for me to be around him,” said De Minaur. “I wanted to just pick his brain, right, and see how he saw the game, because when he played, he was able to dominate the baseline exchange. He held that baseline so well and found, you know, different angles very easily when he was playing.
“So I’ve been able to ask him a couple of things, what he kind of tries to do. He’s been quite vocal with me, which I’ve really enjoyed.
“I thought it was very positive to not only use my speed to retrieve balls, but also cut some corners and take some time away inside the court and look at the court instead of as a small court, look at all the different spots on the court, because there’s a lot of different places that you can hit the tennis ball off groundstrokes. They have different effects and have that sort of variety.
“Then with Pat, I’m playing what is very much a stressful match, and he’s bringing such a calm energy to me. A big, big reason of today was literally us talking about the game plan, how we were going to come up with ways of hurting him. You know, the whole week we’ve been talking about the slice, right?
“Even yesterday I hit in the morning, and just after at the very end, I had five minutes of Pat just hitting slices with me and us working on exactly the shots that came today, whether it was the deep slice, the short slice, the short-line one, and ultimately, also helping on my transition game, because I am known for coming into the net.
“I’m not afraid of coming into the net, but at times I need to work a little bit more on my position and my balance when I get to the net and kind of where I cover, because you know, even today I thought I let him get away with a couple of passing shots that maybe I should be ready for since I’ve got that speed that I can kind of cover the net. So it’s been a work in progress, but I’ve enjoyed it.”
Alex de Minaur explains why he was not fazed by his head-to-head with Alexander Zverev
De Minaur had only won one of his last five meetings against Zverev coming into their match at the Laver Cup, and he was asked if the conditions helped him beat the world number three.
The slow conditions annoyed Carlos Alcaraz in his singles defeat, but De Minaur suggested they also played into the hands of Zverev and he had to try and adapt instead.
He also explained why he does not read too much into his head-to-head’s, particularly with his rise to the top 10 in the ATP rankings in recent years.
“Look, I think ultimately the thing about head-to-heads is that it happens over the course of a career, right? I believe I’ve been a very different player throughout my career,” said De Minaur.
“When I was first starting on the tour and where I am now, I’m completely two different players. So I don’t look into those head-to-heads too much in that sense. I feel like, you know, I am capable of bringing this type of tennis and beating these type of players. I’ve just got to show it more often.
“But, yeah, look, the only thing that these types of conditions or these conditions brought out today is that it brought out a different game style in me, and I had to come up with different ways of trying to hurt him, because the conditions are so slow, and he’s so long. He’s content with kind of being a couple of meters behind the baseline and rallying, and he’s able to still generate a lot with these heavy conditions, where myself, I struggle to generate probably when it gets a little bit heavier.
“So I had to look at different parts of the court to try and expose him. That was where kind of the variety, the slices, the short angles, the coming to the net. It just kind of extended my playbook a little bit today.”
All three of De Minaur’s victories over Zverev have come in team events (ATP Cup 2020, United Cup 2024, Laver Cup 2025), and he was not done there in San Francisco.
De Minaur would return to court a few hours later in doubles competition, as he partnered Alex Michelsen to beat Holger Rune and Casper Ruud to complete a perfect day for Team World.
Team World need only two wins to secure the title on the final day of the 2025 Laver Cup, with De Minaur playing in the second match against Jakub Mensik.
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