EXCLUSIVE: Alex de Minaur Makes Bold US Open Prediction: “Not Carlos or Jannik”

In the thick, humid buzz of New York in late August, the US Open hums like a living thing. For Alex de Minaur, who thrives on motion and noise, Flushing Meadows is not merely a stop on the calendar; it is a circuit that matches his wiring. “Loud, hectic, and fun,” he sums up the city in three quick words. “New York crowd is very loud, right? And it’s, I would say, the closest thing to a nosy crowd. So, you just get that electricity, that buzz.”

That electricity is not the background color for de Minaur… it is fuel. “I definitely feed off the crowd,” smiling, ‘The Demon’ of the court — quick to grin, quicker to move — owned up to host Nate Francis of EssentiallySports, reflecting on the contrast with the COVID years when empty stands made matches feel like rehearsals. 

The packed, vocal arenas of today, he says, inject a different urgency into every point and give players a platform to be more than technicians: to be performers. This symbiotic relationship with the audience is a core tenet of his identity on court, making the US Open’s courts his ideal battleground.

“Nowadays you see everyone moving pretty damn well, right?” he remarked, almost in awe of the new generation of giants who are as agile as they are powerful. His advice for gaining a step, honed from a childhood of tedious footwork drills to overcome uncoordinated limbs, was simple yet profound: master the fundamentals. All these threads — the energy of New York, the changing game, the rise of new contenders — converged dramatically when EssentiallySports host Nate Francis asked for one prediction for the US Open. 

After a moment’s contemplation, de Minaur leaned in and delivered a statement that reverberates with significance: “There will be a Grand Slam winner that’s not Carlos or Jannik.” In the year of absolute dominance by Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner, with Novak Djokovic always lying in wait — this is a monumental prediction.

But, the prediction also challenges the fact that out of 4 Grand Slams this year, 2 are already won by Jannik Sinner (Australian Open, and Wimbledon), and 1 by Carlos Alcaraz (Roland Garros). And this time, the 2024 US Open champion, Sinner, is looking forward to retain his US Open crown at the Flushing Meadows. However, the Australian star declared that the field is more open than what the narrative suggests. As he said himself, with determined resolve, “I’ll do my best. You can trust that.”

This mindset extended to a playful yet revealing hypothesis: if he were commissioner for a day, what would he change? His answer was immediate and strategically selfish: one serve only. “I don’t have the biggest serve,” he confessed with a laugh, “so it would just make life a lot easier against those serve bots.” The comment, specifically name-checking the towering Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, might have been made in jest. But it underscored a serious point about the current meta of the game, dominated by power servers, and his own place within it as a defiant retriever. 

Now a seasoned veteran consistently residing in the upper echelons of the sport, de Minaur has mastered a crucial balance — the relentless pursuit of improvement with the necessity of mental respite.

“Yeah, I think it’s super important. I mean, ultimately, the goal is always to improve, and for me, it’s to get the most out of myself. But I’ve found over the years… I’ve got to have that healthy balance of not putting too much pressure on myself and being able to switch off, right? So when I’m at the courts, all eyes are on tennis. I’m doing everything I can. When I’m off the court, I like to relax and switch off and be what I would call a normal human being,” the 26-year-old Aussie reflected. 

When the discussion turned to the tour’s rising stars, de Minaur highlighted Czech teenager Jakub Menšík as a profoundly underrated talent, a player with massive weapons and a fluidity that belies his powerful 6’5″ frame. This observation led to a broader point about the evolution of the modern player. The classic advantage of a smaller, quicker player like himself — superior movement and footwork — is being systematically erased. 

The US Open has also courted controversies. The primary one? Mixed doubles. Although numerous influential figures in the tennis community recognized the value of the event’s concept, there were also those who voiced their criticisms. What are de Minaur’s thoughts on the topic?

For Alex de Minaur, mixed doubles is proof tennis can entertain and evolve

The exclusive conversation with EssentiallySports’ Nate Francis then pivoted to the broader state of tennis, with the host probing Alex de Minaur’s thoughts on the recent experiment of mixed doubles, a format designed to attract a more casual, mainstream audience. 

The Australian’s response was overwhelmingly positive, viewing it as a vital step for the sport’s growth, despite all the ongoing controversies around it. “I thought it was great. I thought it was fun, a lot of eyeballs,” he said, recognizing its value as a great spectacle. 

The 26-year-old firmly aligns with the progressive view that tennis must continue to adapt to be more spectator-driven, understanding that increased viewership translates to a healthier sport for everyone involved. 

Now, the only question remains. Can he, against all odds, grab the elusive US Open title? Only time will tell…