Australian star Alex de Minaur has revealed escaping the Wimbledon tournament village has been forming a large part of his off-court plan for on-court success at the 2024 Championships.
De Minaur, who is aiming to make the fourth round of the tournament for just the second time in his career when he takes on Frenchman Lucas Pouille on Saturday night (AEST), has had two straight set victories to start his campaign.
He took three tie-breakers to get past fellow Australian James Duckworth in the first round, before beating Spaniard Jaume Munar 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 in the second round, in a match where he won 70 per cent of points on first serve and converted 8 out of 17 break points.
Frenchman Pouille will likely provide a sterner test in the third round, although he is battling an injury, having beaten another Australian in Thanassi Kokkinakis in the second round - Kokkinakis was forced to retire with a knee injury himself.
De Minaur said escaping Wimbledon is the key to his success however.
โYeah, over the years, I have spent more and more time here in London, so I've gotten to know it quite well,โ he said per News Corp.
โThere are kind of different nooks and places that we enjoy. It is anything that involves disconnecting from tennis, right? That's the main goal.
โSo we're probably going to stay clear from Wimbledon. We don't really want to be even in the village, (although) we do love the village.
โBut โฆ at this time it is crazy. (So) anything that's on the outskirts, where we can forget about tennis and be normal human beings, that is for us.โ
Pouille is a former Top 30 player on the ATP tour and poccesses a powerful game that works with grass courts.
De Minaur, nonetheless, will be desperate to advance, and do it quickly before preparing for a likely fourth-round tustle against Novak Djokovic.
De Minaur, who is the ninth seed at Wimbledon, will be first up on Court 3 during Saturday night's play in London.
