ALEX DE MINAUR will take on Novak Djokovic on Centre Court this afternoon after coming through the “not nice”; situation of seeing fiancee Katie Boulter suffer a devastating defeat in round two.
and British No1 are in a long-term relationship and last December.
The Aussie star, 26, was sat in Boulter’s player box on No1 Court as she was in the second round.
Asked about how he coped with the result amid his own campaign, De Minaur said: “There’s no real rule book that you can go on, but it’s not ideal. It’s not nice.
“I felt for Katie yesterday, and I’ve been in those positions myself. It’s not easy by any means to forget about it. It’s something that stays with you.
“On my side there’s obviously the part of doing my best to comfort her and try to be there for her the same way she is there for me through the good stuff and the bad stuff.
“It definitely does have a little bit of impact on yourself, and you’ve got to do your best to try and have a mental reset and shift your focus towards yourself and realising that you do have a match the following day that you’ve got to prepare for, it’s not going to be an easy one, it’s going to be a battle.”;
De Minaur has since managed to navigate his way through the draw, beating qualifier August Holmgren in straight sets to book a Centre Court date with .
The match will be a poignant one for the No11 seed, who was outing against the legendary Serbian last year after suffering an injury during match point of his victory over Arthur Fils.
Boulter, 28, has stuck around SW19 since her loss and has been supporting De Minaur from his player box.
The Aussie can expect brilliant British support this afternoon, given his relationship with Boulter.
On the Wimbledon crowd, De Minaur said last week: “I’ve felt an amazing shift of support the last three or four years, and spending a lot more time here in the UK, it’s been quite special. It feels like I’m growing roots here.
As I said before, I’ve been fortunate enough to be around the grounds in Wimbledon when the tournament is not on.
“I’ve been able to train here. I’ve been able to be here with Katie. So I’ve kind of been able to see shift between it being a club into a Grand Slam.
“All those aspects all the way from spending some time together, being at home, knowing the location a lot better, it definitely gives you an overall better feeling as you go into this tournament.”;
On Djokovic, De Minaur added: “Novak has completed the game, right? He’s broken all the records.
“It’s amazing for him to still be showing up and still showing that fire and desire to win more.
“He’s a player that can find motivation and fire from anything, and that’s extremely dangerous.
“You don’t want to give him something to get motivated about because then you’ll definitely see his absolute best side.”;
