The 2024 season was an eventful one for Alex de Minaur. While he had a consistent run throughout the season and even won a couple of titles, he also encountered a tough time. During the Wimbledon Championships, the Australian star suffered a cartilage tear high on his right hip and adductor longus muscle. Despite being in pain, he continued playing in that tournament and reached the quarterfinals. However, he missed some crucial tournaments before the US Open, including the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Masters. Months after suffering the worst injury of his career, de Minaur opened up about his comeback.

The Australian star was in contention to qualify for the ATP Finals and decided to continue playing with pain. He returned to the court at the US Open and subsequently qualified for the ATP Finals. However, he had an immense pain in his hip, which restricted his movements. Nonetheless, the off-season was a crucial time out for de Minaur and he is happy to be back rejuvenated.

During an interview at the ongoing United Cup, he said, “Look, obviously now officially last year I struggled with an injury that sidelined me and took away one of my biggest assets, which was my movement. It took me a very long time to get back.”

Further, he went on to add, “It was safe to say that it had been a long time since I felt my feet moving as quickly as they did today and doing all of that without pain. It was a really good feeling. So kind of gave me — you know, gave me some goose bumps because it felt good to finally be back at that level.”

After suffering the injury, de Minaur even contemplated having surgery. However, it would have resulted in him missing at least four months of action, which de Minaur couldn’t afford during his prime. Moreover, the surgery gave no guarantee that the injury would be healed. As a result, he skipped that option and continued playing with his injury.

“It’s causing instability in a couple of different areas, so I feel it in the adductor a little bit, and a little bit higher up, near the pubis, so it’s not an easy one,” de Minaur said.

Meanwhile, de Minaur faced an interesting matchup at the United Cup. He was up against his fiancee’s team, Great Britain at the tournament, which Australia won. However, Boulter wasn’t thrilled with the fact that she had to face de Minaur.

Katie Boulter shrugs off the idea of playing against Alex de Minaur

The duo, who got engaged before the United Cup, became opponents soon after as Great Britain took on Australia in the United Cup group stage. Despite the latter winning, it was Great Britain who advanced into the quarterfinals. Although de Minaur and Boulter avoided facing each other, the latter feared the idea of playing against her fiancee.

Ahead of the tie, she said, “I wouldn’t say I was thrilled at the idea of playing him all over again. Obviously, he’s a top-10 player and he knows how to play tennis. So, there’s one side of it, and there’s a personal side of it as well which is difficult – but also great for bragging rights. I don’t think he’s going to be out there cheering for me. Obviously, I’m always supporting him, I support what he does.”

While Boulter won her singles encounter, de Minaur leveled the tie with his singles win. Subsequently, in the deciding mixed doubles encounter, de Minaur teamed up with Olivia Gadecki to win over Olivia Nicholls and Charles Broom. However, the win wasn’t enough as Australia bowed out of the tournament while Great Britain will face Poland in the quarterfinals.