Admitting the struggle, chasing redemption: Alex de Minaur targets Barcelona

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Alex de Minaur will open his Barcelona Open run this week, hoping to find more consistency after a slow start to the clay court swing.

De Minaur exited the Monte-Carlo Masters in the quarterfinals, falling in three sets to home favourite Valentin Vacherot. Since winning Rotterdam back in February, he’s struggled for form.

He was knocked out early at both the Mexican Open and Miami Open and picked up just one win at Indian Wells.

But there were some encouraging signs in Monte-Carlo. De Minaur managed back-to-back wins for the first time in a while, giving him something to build on heading into Barcelona.

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Alex de Minaur reflects on his form following the Monte-Carlo Masters

Speaking to Tennis TV about how he feels his clay game is shaping up, De Minaur said: “Yeah, look, it could be better, it could be worse, right? If you get a couple of wins under your belt, it’s always a good thing.

“It always gives you a little bit of confidence. But at the same time, I still feel like there’s plenty of things I would like to improve on and get better with.

“But it was the first week on clay, so you take the positives, you move on to the next week, and hopefully you can tweak a couple of things and play even better.

“What did I like? I liked that I got back into the winner’s circle. I felt like after a tough month, which wasn’t really like myself, I got a couple of early losses.

“And even though my level wasn’t bad, or I didn’t feel like I was too afraid about my level, I just wasn’t able to win those matches, right?

“So to get back, win a couple of tough matches, play the bigger points a little bit better, it kind of gives you a little bit of confidence.

“And obviously, just movement and feeling comfortable and adapting to a completely different game style on the clay has worked so far.”

Alex de Minaur sets clear target for clay swing ahead of Roland Garros

The build-up to Roland Garros is a busy one on the clay calendar, with three ATP Masters 1000 events scheduled in Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome.

“It is a very long stint,” said De Minaur. “And these first couple of weeks, they’re great because they’re one-week events, right?

“And then kind of everything’s a lot more straightforward. You play, you back up the next day, and it makes it kind of easier to get into routines. It’s normally the Madrid-Rome stint, which is quite a long one.

“And ultimately, the only way to make it shorter really is to win a lot of matches, right? So that’s going to be the goal to hopefully be in the tournaments, to get a lot of matches.

“It’s an opportunity for me to try and gain some points, gain some momentum going into Paris, but it’s all going to come down to me being fresh mentally. I think that’s going to be the biggest thing.”

De Minaur faces Sebastian Ofner in his opening round match at the Barcelona Open.

Read more:

• Ben Shelton breaks down his season with brutally honest truths
• Jannik Sinner’s surface secret: Coach picks clay or hard after Monte-Carlo
• Bruised but not broken: Carlos Alcaraz maps out clay run after loss to Jannik Sinner