Did Alex de Minaur Give Up School When He Was 12YO? How a Global Financial Crisis Proved to be a Game-Changer in the Aussie Tennis Star’s Life

Even though we admire tennis players on screen, we barely know about the struggles they went through to become the tennis stars they are now. This truly and completely applies to the Australian tennis champ Alex de Minaur who had to sacrifice his normal kid life to become the professional he is now in the sport he loves with all his heart.

A recent interview with Alex de Minaur revealed the brutal past he faced when he had to choose between Spain and Australia and move his entire life from one country to the other to learn tennis and become one of the biggest stars the sport has ever seen. But of course, that came at a cost.

Alex de Minaur’s story on how he became the Australian tennis star he is now

At the age of 12, de Minaur was faced with a life-changing decision when the Australian Tennis decided to sponsor him as they saw in him the skill to defeat an adult in tennis even at such a young age. Alex de Minaur moved from Australia to Spain with his family at the age of 5 because his father decided to set up a car wash business there.

However, the global financial crisis when he was 12 changed their life, and his father’s business went under. That is when he got noticed by Todd Woodbridge from Australia Tennis and saw that he had what it takes. He shared, “I just remember how impressed I was by his maturity and worldliness. I knew he was going to be a good pro, even at 12”

However, due to this, he had to move from Spain to Australia again leaving behind a life of 7 years including friends and school. He said, “All my relationships, all my friends, I was leaving all of that behind to go somewhere I essentially didn’t remember at all, on the other side of the world.” His mother also shared that the most hurtful thing for him was leaving school.

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She mentioned, “The toughest thing for me was when he had to give up physical school when we moved to Australia.” However, a lot of good also came out of what de Minaur experienced as he shared further.

Alex de Minaur also shared that moving between two countries helped me to grow better and quicker. He added that due to this he became independent at a very young age. De Minaur added, “I think long term it helped me mature and realize what the important things are and what I wanted to achieve in my life and in my career.”

He also said that it was a big part of his life that he got to experience 2 different lifestyles because that taught him 2 different playing styles as well. Lastly, he stated that if it hadn’t been the move, he would not be the person he is now, probably not as successful as well in his career.

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