At first, Jaume Munar thought Alex de Minaur had feet of clay when his old childhood opponent would flounder on the red stuff. But years later, he has now learned to be applaud just how well the Australian No.1 has adapted to life on the surface that natural Spanish clay-courters like him used to consider their stronghold.
Indeed, Munar is so impressed by de Minaur's strides on the clay, he fancies he will have to raise his game to new levels to topple the ever-improving Sydneysider in their second-round clash at the French Open on Thursday. "Hundred per cent, it's going to be a very tough one," said Munar, a feisty customer who had a testy run-in at the net with Thanasi Kokkinakis in Madrid last year when he accused the Australian of telling him to "shut up". Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
But the 27-year-old, known affectionately as 'Jimbo' for his combative Jimmy Connors-style outbursts, has nothing but genial words for the Alicante-based de Minaur, who he remembers playing in local tournaments in Spain when they were boys. The Sydney-born De Minaur had moved to Spain when he was five with his Spanish mum and Uruguayan dad, before returning to Australia at 13 and then going back to Europe to start moulding his career in the Spanish hot bed of tennis in his late teens. "Alex has been working very hard, and he's developing very good tennis on all the surfaces, improving a lot in the last couple of years on clay," said Mu.
