The heartbreaking split ‘broken’ de Minaur must consider

Respected coach Mark Petchey has urged Alex de Minaur to try two crucial changes to his game before throwing in the towel on his grand slam dreams.

De Minaur, the fifth-seeded Australian, sounded as down and distressed as he ever has during an interview with Stan Sport’s Chris Stubbs at Wimbledon.

The 27-year-old was completely outplayed in the big moments by ninth-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli, who marched into the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 7-6(4), 6-3 romp in southwest London.

Despite his lofty world ranking, de Minaur is yet to reach a grand slam semi-final and said Tuesday’s (AEST) loss “breaks me inside.”

Petchey - who has worked with British grand slam winners Andy Murray and Emma Raducanu - said there were still things for ‘the Demon’ to try.

“The first thing I’d probably go to is the racquet,” Petchey told Stan Sport’s Grand Slam Daily.

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“Maybe I can get a bit more power. There are definitely more powerful frames out there. Sometimes that can even be a placebo effect. Maybe it isn’t going to generate 75 miles (120km) an hour (groundstrokes), but it might make you feel as though you are, and that could be a big upside for Alex.”

Petchey also said de Minaur should consider the heartbreaking decision to make a split from his mentor/coach Adolfo Gutierrez, who has guided him since he was nine.

“I also feel maybe it is time to maybe freshen up things around him,” Petchey said.

“Maybe he just needs a little bit of a different voice. They’ve done such a wonderful job. Adolfo’s done such a wonderful job with him. But just maybe at this stage of his career he just needs somebody with a bit more passion, slightly different vibe.

“It’s very intense because Alex wants to win one of these. I get that, and I get how everyone’s reacting, but maybe it would have been easier for him if he’d had somebody to sort of bounce off that’s getting out of their chair, really fist pumping.”

Despite being ranked a career-high sixth, de Minaur’s haul of 11 ATP titles does not even include a Masters 1000 trophy.

He has consistently made the last eight at the four majors since 2024 - but that is as good as it has got for the Aussie.

“I know there wasn’t a lot of chances today because obviously, it’s a straight sets loss,” Petchey said.

“But there’s still maybe an element of, if I could find somebody... a hype man or a hype woman, that is maybe going to be the thing that could maybe get him out of the slump in some of those moments.”

A demoralised de Minaur admitted the perils of zig-zagging across the world for almost a decade without a grand slam title to show for his sweat-soaked efforts had caught up with him.

De Minaur cut a dejected figure after falling short on the big stage again.

But he ruled out a coaching change.

“No, I really don’t think that’s the issue. I think it all comes down to myself and how I’ve dealt with certain situations,” de Minaur told reporters.

“I think the tennis is there to win these types of matches... if I can just play tennis and not worry about anything else, right? I wasn’t able to do that, and that’s why I’m in this position right now. And yeah, I either improve or we’ll see the same results happen again and again.”

De Minaur had beaten Cobolli in both of their previous meetings, but it was like his brain had suffered a short circuit in the fourth round clash.

“Just not what I expected of myself,” the Sydney product said.

“One of us went out to win the match, and the other went out not to lose the match. It’s pretty self-explanatory who was who. It breaks me inside. That’s the reality of it. Many, many hours gets put into my craft, and countless years to kind of have moments like these.

“To not step up to the plate, it’s truly gut-wrenching. It’s very tough.

“I’ve got lots of ways in which I can hurt him - but if I don’t play to my capabilities and more than that, I hinder myself, then it’s not ideal.

“Just not good enough mentally. That’s how you explain it.”

As the shattered dreams keep piling up tournament after tournament, de Minaur admitted the grand slam exits were getting tougher to swallow.

“Sadly, it just feels like they keep on coming. Yeah, it’s not easy to take,” he said.

“To fall short constantly, you start doubting yourself. You start doubting whether you’re going to be able to break through and kind of take it to the next step.”

De Minaur hopes taking a break will allow him to recalibrate, and get out of the deep dark hole that gobbled him up at Wimbledon.

“I won’t play a tournament for a while. But... the goals, the beliefs, the dreams that you have, they kind of start fading away,” he said.

“I’m not going to say, I’ve had enough, I’m hanging up the racquets. It’s fresh now. It hurts like hell now... but I’m a competitor through and through.

“I’ll get back up, and I’ll give myself another chance. I just want it to kind of happen to keep giving me that hope. If not, this is a tough sport to play with no hope.”

The irony is that de Minaur appears to be as happy and as settled as he ever has away from the court.

He is due to wed British tennis star Katie Boulter, who wore an England football shirt while supporting him against Cobolli.

Petchey acknowledged he was nowhere near de Minaur’s level as a player but recalled his own experiences of dark times on tour.

“It is very much an inflection point. I had it actually against Sandon Stolle, an Australian. I had beaten Pat Rafter in the previous round. I lost to Sandon in the next one,” Petchey recalled.

“And I remember sitting in a hotel room that night crying for about five hours, literally feeling like that was it. I hope Alex isn’t obviously at that stage yet... somehow he’s got to find something to change up just to try and get the magic back, get the enthusiasm back for this sport.”

- with Reuters