Alex de Minaur has enjoyed an excellent two weeks on the ATP Tour.
De Minaur, ranked eighth in the world, recently won the Washington Open after surviving match points in the final. He followed this up by defeating Frances Tiafoe on his way to the Canadian Open quarter-final, before losing to Ben Shelton 3-6 4-6.
The Australian has stunned his peers with his shot-making capabilities and rapid court coverage, illustrated by a particularly incredible point against Tiafoe in Canada.
Despite his recent successes, the ‘Demon’ has struggled with one particular area of his game during a stellar month on the ATP Tour.
However, the potential to build upon this weakness has been described as ‘exciting’ by the former coach of Nick Kyrgios.
Simon Rea says the opportunity for Alex de Minaur to improve his first serve percentage is ‘exciting’
Nick Kyrgios first started working with Simon Rea in 2013 after winning the 2014 Australian Open Boys Singles title. However, the pair later split, two weeks after Kyrgios’s breakout performance against Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon 2014.
Recently, Rea appeared on Australian Open TV, discussing de Minaur and his further room for development as a player.
Rea said: “I think one of the exciting things about Demon looking at the numbers is that there is more upside there.
“When you look at his serving numbers we know he is not one of the more overwhelmingly more powerful, bigger guys or servers on Tour. Not him and never going to be.
“But I would argue that given unreturned first serves or serving a bunch of aces is not going to be his one wood, I would argue that first serve percentage is an important characteristic of his game because it’s going to enable him if not to be on the front foot, to avoid being on the back foot.
“So I would argue that serving a high percentage of first serves is an important metric for him. If we look at his match against Shelton, he landed 53 per cent of his first serves. The ATP Tour average is 63 per cent.
“Then let’s come back further. Against Tiafoe he landed 42 per cent, against Comesana he landed 43 per cent and against Davidovich Fokina he landed 58 per cent. So all his first serve percentage numbers are well under the ATP Tour average. He is getting by because he is fighting and scrapping and clawing.
“I would argue just looking at the numbers, there is upside there. I think a little bit more safety and a bit more margin, and a healthier number from first serves in play takes some heat off on his second serve and we know what he is doing on return.
“He is the second best returner on Tour behind only one player, Jannik Sinner. So we know what he is doing on the return game, we know how lethal he is there, if he can find another five or 10% of efficiency in his service game there is only upside heading into US Open.”
Alex de Minaur’s first-serve troubles
Rea is spot on about Alex de Minaur’s struggles on his first serve; the Australian has registered less-than-impressive statistics over his past five matches.
De Minaur has made only 52.1 per cent of his first serves across his last five matches, dating back to the Washington Open final against Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
While de Minaur has capitalised when making his first serve, winning 71.4 per cent of those points, the shot needs more work if he hopes to challenge the likes of Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner in the latter stages of Grand Slams.
The Australian star will hope to go a few steps further than in Canada when he plays in the Cincinnati Open over the next fortnight.
The 26-year-old will face either Reilly Opelka or Hugo Dellien in the second round, after receiving a first-round bye.
